


One More

by Seal9



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Past and Present, Post Season 5 of The Flash, Post-Canon, Retirement, Romance, Torture, Vigilante, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-14 12:42:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 61,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17508851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seal9/pseuds/Seal9
Summary: After years of fighting crime, Leonard and Sara finally decide to settle down and retire. But first, they have one more mission to complete, and Leonard will be lucky if he even makes it to the end of the week.Based off the Titans episode Hawk and Dove.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This first chapter is probably the most violent one in this story. This entire chapter was inspired by the first scene in the Hawk and Dove episode of Titans, and the rest of the story just built on from this moment onwards.
> 
> This chapter also takes place in the story's present (2026). 
> 
> I'll try and get the second chapter up within a day for those less fond of the violence and torture.
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or related shows.

Suspended two feet in the air by a chain wrapped around his hands, was not the most humiliating position Snart has found himself in. This also wasn’t his first time being a makeshift piñata for a bunch of thugs. 

However, just because he’s used to it, doesn’t mean he enjoys being in this position. Combine his current predicament with the recent injury to his shoulder, which is getting quite sore trying to support his entire weight, and Snart really doesn’t like how things have turned out. It could be worse though, which is the only comfort he can hold onto right now. 

And by, could be worse, he means trying to explain this situation to Caitlin Snow, who had said something along the lines of ‘you better not fuck your shoulder up again.’ 

Leonard shivers as a wave of dread coursed through him. 

Yeah, he’s definitely going to keep away from S.T.A.R. Labs for the rest of the week.

Snart’s a naturally stubborn person, and very comfortable to shift the blame for something going wrong to something else. He’s 50 years old, and part of him wants to blame his old age for why he got distracted and ambushed, but he knows he’s getting to the point where he’s losing more of his touch than he’d care to admit to most. 

‘Watch your doors and corners, pal. You don’t come rushing into a room, with your dick hanging out.’

Now isn’t that a line Snart wishes he paid more attention to? He laughs to himself, ignoring the disgruntled looks from the four thugs surrounding him, and the final one anchoring his chain to the ground. 

Try as much as he wants to ignore it, he is losing his touch. Checking behind the door he passed on his way in seemingly slipped his mind, and he paid for his carelessness with a solid hit against his back with the butt of a gun. It could be seen as a lesson to be learnt, but Leonard is at the stage where he shouldn’t be making those rookie mistakes. More accurately, this is just another one of those wakeup call moments that prove what Leonard doesn’t want to hear. He’s getting too old for this. 

He cracks his neck to the side, the stiffness giving him some pains, which is only partially relieved by his action. 

Leonard groans the thug anchoring the chain makes one final tug and hooks it in place. The thug joins his crew, falling in place as another, steps up to Snart. 

“My father worked with your father I think,” the thug pulls out a cigarette and lights it, “Around ’82, shortly after your old man got out of prison. Shoddy plan hey? Don’t know how the fuck they managed to evade the cops.”  
Leonard smirks, “Even my father gets lucky once in a while.”

“What about your heist in ’06?” he looks at Snart eagerly, “How did you sneak those smoke bombs into the building?”  
The thug was harshly shoved by one of the others who was giving him a dirty look, “Stop making friends with the prisoners, dumbass,” the thug looks at him with an annoyed expression, “You do this every time.”  
“Geez, sorry,” he shuts himself up by sticking the cigarette back in his mouth and then stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

“Maybe after this, we can sit down and I’ll tell you all about it,” Leonard drawls with a little wink to the thug.

Bad move on Leonard’s part, and as a result, one of the other guards fired a shot into the ground before slamming the burning barrel of the gun into one of the fresh cuts in Leonard’s side. Nothing really gets your heart pumping like having an impromptu cauterisation of a stab wound. Snart tries to writhe away, but his attempts are futile as the hot metal is pressed firmly against his flesh. 

The knife wound was pretty nasty too, and like the surprise attack from behind the door, he didn’t see the blade coming until he felt it pierce through his side. 

Technology evolves, always getting better to keep up with shifting time and not be left in the dust.  
Leonard’s outfit had been upgraded over the years, layers of composite armour embedded within the fabric of his parka to increase resistance against most standard weaponry. But just as Leonard’s equipment is upgraded over the years, bad guys upgrade theirs. Armour piercing bullets, energy induced blades capable of slicing through steel with ease. 

In the big picture, this technological battle plays out as a race of survival. A race to see who can improve their technology faster and live to make it to the next day. 

“Fuck you,” Snart hissed through gritted teeth at the thug as he continued writhing in his chains. 

The guard laughed and stepped back, while another one went over to Snart’s gear. In the past seven years, since being thrown out of the time stream and landing in 2019, his traditional cold gun was considered old-fashioned and never rebuilt again. Partly due to the fact that Snow and her alter ego Frost, had become the resident cold based vigilante. To compensate him and so Team Flash wasn’t dealing with a grumpy and jealous Snart in their city, Cisco developed multiple kinds of cryo-gloves for the cold vigilante, with the most recent model being made of nano-bots that form into metal bands around his wrist. 

He would be lying if he said that Frost wasn’t the inspiration for the device. Most of the abilities that the gloves can perform were inspired from the meta: ice shields from his palm, freezing things with a touch, creating icicles to throw. He’s a thief by nature who likes nice things, and Frost’s abilities are arguably very enticing.

The blade that pierced his side had caused such a distracting amount of agony, that Leonard was unable to activate the gloves and defend himself. Within seconds of the ambush, he was beaten to the ground. The bands were the first piece of gear taken from him, stashed in a pile with the rest of his gear, including the parka that brandished some painful slash marks. 

Sitting firmly on the top of the pile, was his goggles, slightly scuffed around the edges, but still operational.

And if they were operational, it meant the camera feed was still active, which was taunting and humiliating on its own. It’s not too difficult to picture this particular event coming back in some photo album compilation of stupid shit he’s gotten himself into. 

The guard standing over his gear bent down and picked up the metal bands and examined them, but nothing was happening. Fortunately, because the small cryo-container in them could explode and freeze this entire warehouse. 

“Put that down before you kill us all, idiot,” Snart snapped at the guard who was clanging the bands together.

The guard suddenly turned towards Snart, dropping the bands and gut-punched the hanging piñata. Only to get kneed in the face by the cold vigilante in response. Leonard felt the guy’s teeth crack against his reinforced knee-cap and chuckled as the guy fell to the ground bleeding from his mouth. 

The other guards weren’t happy, and the one who fired the bullet and burnt Snart earlier, held the gun right under the thief’s chin. The barrel still contained some of the heat from the previous shot, some of the warmth radiating onto his neck. 

“You better watch it Snart,” growled the thug, “There’s a lot of people who would love to have a piece of you, old man.”  
Snart turned his head to the side and spat out some of the blood that had formed in his mouth when they broke his teeth during the ambush, “Tell ‘em to get in line then.”

The gun was pressed harder against Snart’s throat, but he just glared at the thug with an icy glare. It was then when footsteps echoed across the back of the room and a scrawny looking man in glasses holding a briefcase entered and walked over to them. With the way the scrawny man walked, looked around the room and composed himself, Snart pegged him to be some sort of mad doctor. That briefcase in his hand only solidified his guess.

“Please don’t,” the man spoke calmly, his eyes lazily raising to the thug holding the gun against Snart, “I’d like to talk to our guest first.”

The leader walked over to a nearby table and placed his briefcase down, unclipping it and revealing an assortment of tools and other sharp, pointy objects.

“Chain his legs,” the leader ordered as he meticulously examined his tools. 

Two thugs grabbed some spare chain and walked over to Snart who was still being held at gunpoint by the other feisty thug. Only when the chain was brought forward, was the gun removed from Snart’s neck and the wielder stepped back to watch. They bent down to his legs and began wrapping them around his knee-caps, above and below to lock his leg in place, making it much harder for him to move around. 

The leader diverted his attention to a small classic radio with a frequency dial. Something which had died off years ago, but clearly not in this man’s heart. Without a doubt, Leonard figured this mad scientist guy had to be older than 60 or something. Living a similarly dark and dangerous life as this ex-crook, just on opposite sides of the law. 

Soft, gentle tunes of old-school opera began echoing around the warehouse floor, “Oh yeah,” Leonard smirked as his legs were being restrained, “Nothing sets the mood quite like some opera. Reminds of this time I was in Russia and had- fuck!"

A sharp pain stung through Leonard’s broken legs when one of the thugs pressed the chain hard against the muscle. 

“Ah, shit,” Leonard groaned as he looked down at the thugs beside him, “You guys in the boy scouts or something. Make sure you do the knot just right. I know this guy, keeps preaching about being an eagle scout-,” Snart grunted again as they looped the links around each other, squeezing his legs harder, “If you’re missing any badges, he can help-fuck, ow!” 

With another tug from the thugs and another round of expletives from Snart, they were finished and stepped back, just in time for the leader to finally decide on what tool he was going to start with first. 

“You are going to torture me, right?” Snart spat up another clump of blood, “Cause there are only two reasons I’m tied up like this, and I’m pretty certain none of you are my wife.”

Snart’s gaze flicks to the goggles looking back at him from the pile, silently praying that Sara is able to see what’s happening and can show up in time. 

The leader walked up to him slowly, gesture for the thug with the gun to stand down. In his hand was a crude saw drill bit, with some scary looking features that had Snart preparing for considerable pain. 

“What’s your name glasses,” Snart’s attempt at sounding flirtatious wasn’t the best, and was rudely interrupted by the drill bit being punctured straight into his side where the knife wound was, “Ah fuck! Screw you!” Even with the pain, Leonard still had the mental capacity to come out with puns. 

Agonising pain surged through his body as the mad doctor twisted and pushed the drill bit further and deeper into his side. It grated along his bottom rib and he continued spurting rounds of expletives before trying to keep himself from accidentally bitting off his own tongue, letting only gritted growls escape from his mouth. 

The leader stepped up on his toes to get his head closer to Snart’s. The cold vigilante was very tempted to slam his head into him, but it wasn’t worth it, “Why are you going after us Mr Snart? We’ve abided by your rules for the past seven years,” the leader looked at him curiously.

“Tell that, to the family who was killed by men you supplied guns to,” Snart growled, icy eyes penetrating through the mad doctor’s.  
The man sighed and slumped his shoulders lazily, “What my clients do is not my responsibility,” and he twisted the drill bit harder in Snart’s side. 

He coughed up blood, small drips landing on the doctor’s face who made a disgusted face but was seemingly unbothered by the red liquid.

“Not, the way, I see it,” Snart continued, “Consider taking down all your assess my parting gift to the city.”

His torturer sighed again and shook his head, “I’m afraid not Mr Snart. See, with you here, this presents us with a great opportunity to change the food chain of the underground in Central City. Think of the message it will send to every other criminal in this city when we kill you?”

With a harsh and ruthless tug, the drill bit was ripped out of Snart’s side and blood oozed from the wound at a steady rate. The nano-tech in his parka had already tried to heal up that knife wound, but it was removed too early, leaving only a thin protective layer. A layer which was now compromised thanks to the recent puncture. 

“Son of a bitch, fuck you,” Snart laughed through the pain, his face contorted in agony. 

The mad doctor walked back to his tools and searched through them for something else, “Take his pants down.”

Everyone went silent, just as the opera singer on the radio picked up the octaves. Even Leonard’s rough breathing was on hold as his brain tried to process what was just said. 

Did he just say that? Snart’s laughter immediately died off and looked at the other thugs around him, who previously had grins on their faces, but even they were gone. Everyone had cautious looks, glancing between each other as if checking to make sure they all heard the same thing. One of the thugs, the fan of Snart, actually gave a sympathetic look. 

“I said,” the doctor turned around with a vicious pair of scissors, jagged edges and powerful blades that immediately made Snart wince, “take down his pants.”

Everyone in the room suddenly cringed as they all imagined it happening to them. Subconsciously sliding their hands down to cover themselves as the jagged metal of the fierce scissors scraped open and closed. 

“Oh man,” Snart tried, but ultimately failed, to wriggle away in the chains and protect himself, “Look, you don’t need to do that. What if I told you that it’s the only thing left of my old body that my wife likes? Would that convince you?” Snart was actually begging, his usual drawl long forgotten and replaced in fear, “Anywhere else. You want my fingers?”

Where the fuck was his wife?

The doctor started steps forward to Leonard when suddenly the lights went out and the entire warehouse went pitch black. Snart rolled his head back and let out a large sigh of relief. 

There she is. 

He heard the confused sounds from the guards nearby, guards he could no longer see. A few seconds later, and the sound he was waiting on arrived. A small whirl of something fast slicing through the air before a scream of pain from one of the thugs, as a faint blue bolt of electricity illuminated the downed thug before vanishing. 

The doctor scurried behind his table, flicking on the small lamp and trying to use it to illuminate the intruder. All that it saw was a trail of white dancing across the room, leaving behind unconscious and bruised guards with blue sparks. Sounds of metal batons hitting flesh or clothing, combined with an electric hum, echoed throughout the room and it wasn’t long before the doctor was sprinting out of the room, fleeing from the blonde woman who was standing in front of her partner. 

She tilted her head as she watched the doctor flee out of the room, contemplating going after him but decided against it and turned around to her partner. With a hand on her hip, and tilting her head the other way this time, she gave him a displeased look. 

“Aw, my hero,” Snart drawled as his wife holstered her powered batons.  
Sara walked up to him, her head tilted up to look at his now even higher than usual form, “You didn’t wait for me. I was still in the shower.”  
Snart tried to shrug, “Your showers take 20 minutes, and even longer just to dry your hair,” he noticed that her long blonde hair was still slightly damp.

She pouted at him, but he could see the serious look behind her cheeky expression. From her holster, she pulled out one of the fast-working nano-meds from S.T.A.R. Labs and injected it into his side over the wound. Small grey pieces of technology swarmed to cauterise the wound, preventing more blood spillage whilst getting to work on repairing some of his insides. 

“I would have let them continue torturing you honestly, but you’re right,” her eyes darted down to his pants, “that is the only good thing left about you. I don’t know what use I’d have for you otherwise.”

Hearing that sassy voice right now was greatly improving his mood, “I’d have to go back to using my hands. The horror,” he responded with a false level of fear in his voice. 

Sara watched as the nano-tech spread into the wound before assessing his other wounds, “I should leave you up there,” a hint of venom and spite in her tone.

He almost certainly deserves it. 

A grin forms on Snart’s face as he looks down at his wife, “Whatever turns you on, Canary.”

He smirks at her exaggerated eye roll. She saunters over to the other end of the chain, seductively swaying her hips with each step, throwing a devilish smirk over her shoulder as she released the chain and slowly returned him to the ground. She returned, as he stood awkwardly, and began undoing the chains around his leg while he freed his own hands. 

A few minutes later, Snart had gathered all his equipment back up, sliding the metal bands around his wrists and snuggling into the parka once more. Snart hates asking for help, but with two broken legs, there was no way he was getting out of the building and back to their van all on his own. Sara helps him without hesitation. 

The drive back to their apartment was quiet, letting Leonard recuperate the best he could. He could see from his position in the back of the van that Sara was cautiously looking at him, and he didn’t miss the concern in her eyes. 

There’s no excuse he can come up with to justify his actions tonight. He can lie to himself, but he can’t lie to Sara. He should have waited, he knew he should have waited, yet he didn’t. It’s not the first time either, considering these sorts of reckless actions have been occurring ever since their ‘talk’. 

After all these years as vigilantes, they’ve finally decided on retirement, and this mission for next week is their final. As the years carried on, they knew it was getting harder and harder for the two of them to keep up with all the new criminals in the city. Although they still enjoy the thrill of action that comes with taking out a bunch of criminals or helping innocent people, injuries continued piling up to the point where it was starting to hinder their abilities. More so for Snart than Lance in that matter. 

Captain Cold and White Canary, Central City’s vigilantes, cleaning the streets of underground criminals, taking the missions Team Flash wouldn’t. Or really couldn’t anymore. That team had their own problems, especially since the Flash vanished in that vortex over two years ago, so it wasn’t their fault. But someone needed to stop the uprising criminal underground, and the two lovers/vigilantes were the best suited for it, and had been for the past four years. 

But they can’t keep doing it forever, which is why one night after taking down a bunch of thugs trying to rob a jewellery store, Leonard built up the courage to sit down with and talk. As soon as the idea of retirement left his mouth, she agreed immediately. 

Before that moment, he was uncertain of exactly how she would respond, yet even though he expected the reaction he got, it still surprised him. He could tell she had wanted things between them to settle down, where they don’t have to deal with saving the deal or any of that other vigilante business, but he was surprised at just how much she wanted it.

And since that night, weeks ago, something had changed inside Leonard. The same something that was causing Leonard to act the way he was. This feeling sits inside his head, lingering on every thought he makes. This uncertainty, confusion about the future. But he doesn’t quite understand it, and has been trying to ignore by focusing on these plans. Evidently, he’s not focusing hard enough. 

But this change doesn’t excuse him for leaving her behind tonight. They are a team, and he just got carried away when he heard over the scanners that the shipment had arrived early. It was an unexpected deviation from the plan and uncharacteristically, it had Snart panicking. A piece of his plan that went wrong, and in an uncharacteristic fashion, instead of remaining calm about it like he usually does when following his four key rules, he made a hasty decision. One that he’s sorely regretting. 

He thought he could just do simple reconnaissance. Sneak in, look around and wait for her to arrive and then they take them all out, together. But he messed up, not checking his doors and corners, which led to him getting captured by the thugs, while the vans with the guns and money escaped. 

“Sorry,” Snart spoke softly, eyes looking at Sara’s in the reflection of the mirror.  
Her eyes darted up from the road to his and she nodded, “I’m just glad you’re ok,” she frowned as she realised Snart wasn’t exactly, ‘ok’ right now, “You know what I mean.”

He huffed and smirked, but part of him felt ashamed to continue looking at her, for disappointing her and potentially screwing things up for them. Snart needed to get control over himself. 

Just one more mission, five days from now and then it’s over. After that, the only thing he needs to worry about is not screwing up his marriage with his beautiful woman in white. 

Five days. Such a short time compared to the years he’s been living this kind of life. Yet something tells him that these five days will somehow feel just as long in their own way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work was inspired by the Titans episode Hawk and Dove (aired mid-October). In the following weeks I wrote all but the final chapter for this work, then dropped it because I wrote something that flipped the entire direction of the story and I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue it. After holding onto this story for months, going over it in my head hundreds of times, I finally decided to come back to it and write it in a different way. There are about 40k words total for this work, but I'm also not done yet and still decided on how far I will go with the ending. 
> 
> Making it clear now, the main focus is on CaptainCanary, and KillerCold is what happens in the past before Leonard and Sara get together. Avalance is mentioned often, but not gone into much detail because I'm still working on my Person of Interest themed Legends' series.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the second chapter.

*August 2019 (seven years ago)* 

A roaring vortex appeared over the empty lot looking out towards the bay. Blinding light in the shape of a sphere exited the vortex and burnt into the ground before collapsing in on itself. As if it never existed at all, the dirt and concrete were consumed by the light, leaving a perfectly clean hole in the ground a meter and a half deep. 

A voice cries out in surprise before dropping from the centre of the light sphere and falling into the bottom of the newly formed hole. 

His brain takes a few seconds to register the multiple sources of pain that have him struggling not to pass out. His arm burns like hell, which he supposes he should be grateful for, because it really should be blown up, like the rest of him. With a long and painful exhale, he clutches at his stomach and feels a warm liquid on the wound his finger traces across. 

He’s surprised he didn’t notice it at first. Although his senses were slightly overwhelmed by the burning heat from having his arm stuck in the machine, the roaring noise of the wellspring, and the whole final kiss he just had with the assassin. 

It makes sense. He doesn’t blame those fuckers for trying to shoot him before it explodes. It must have just hit him by the time the explosion went off, because judging by the depth his fingers reach into the wound, it isn’t deep to cause much alarm. 

His eyes open and he immediately regrets it. Starring into the sun suddenly makes his mind register the heat beaming down onto him. For the moment, he takes the time to pause and gather his strength before sitting up and reattempting to open his eyes. 

This time it doesn’t hurt so much, and he sees a mixture of concrete and dirt around him. His first thought is he’s being buried, but that’s quickly disproven when he notices the size of the hole around him. Too big for a burial, spherical, and laser cut clean too, which he doesn’t know any machine is capable of achieving in this terrain. 

With a hefty groan, he pushes himself to his feet. His arm is burnt, every hair singed and skin showing evident signs of peeling away from the burns. Not to mention that the sleeve of his undershirt and jacket are missing too. 

Then there’s the matter of the hole in his stomach. With another groan of pain, he shrugs the remainder of his jacket off him and wraps his burnt arm up in it, before pressing that now covered arm against his stomach in an attempt to solve two problems at once. 

He can’t hear much. It’s windy for one thing, and there’s a considerable amount of boats blasting their horns from nearby. With his head poking from the hole in the ground, which fortunately isn’t too big, he looks around, he confirms with himself that this is indeed a harbour. Taking in the sights a bit more carefully as he looks around this empty lot he finds himself in, he finds it to be familiar. 

Although uncomfortable and slightly painful, he can get out of this hole without too much difficulty, and once he takes another good look at his surroundings he’s certain he recognises this place. 

It’s the last place he stepped foot on before boarding the Waverider, which he remembers was parked a dozen meters away. Still keeping his arm pressed against his stomach, he walks over to where he remembers it, part of him thinking that maybe he’s back before it all began, but as he walks around and doesn’t walk into any cloaked Time Ship, he frowns and stops. 

He has to sit down again, his stomach literally killing him slowly, walking back to the crater he found himself in and dangling his legs into it as he tries to recover. He’s hot, exhausted, feeling faint from the blood dripping out of him, and he’s lonely. If this is all some elaborate form of an afterlife, or his body still transitioning to death, then Sara’s descript of dying suddenly seems like a perfect description.

Calling out for help isn’t his kind of thing, he can’t see anyone around him anyway to call out to, but he admits to himself that assistance would be much appreciated. He turns his head around and looks across the bay back to Central City, and he finds himself agreeing with Lance once more. It really did feel like everyone he knew was a million miles away. That body of water between him and the city may as well have been an entire continent because he simply can’t reach across it for help. 

It’s just as his vision starts getting blurry, black spots forming around the edges of his vision, when two cracks of lightning appear, turning into two suited individuals a dozen meters away. Or is it four individuals? He squeezes his eyes shut and reopens them to try and focus. Guess it really is just two individuals. Speedsters to be more accurately. 

Okay, maybe he won’t be that appreciative of the assistance then.

They approach him slowly, and he almost laughs at the irony, but it hurts too much. 

“Snart?” the red speedster asks cautiously. 

It’s Barry. That tone is unforgettable. Partly because that voice was the driving force behind many of his, considerably selfless, actions. But it sounds different. Older in-fact. 

He tilts his head at the woman. Dark skinned, white and black primary colours on the outfit with some purple trimming. Weird little symbol on her chest in a similarly shaped lightning bolt. Makes him suddenly realise just how different the Flash’s costume is. He’s not sure if he likes it. Head hurts too much to really give out fashion critique at this moment however. 

Snart knows it Barry, and whilst it’s unlikely, Snart has the decency to not expose the speedster’s identity to his unknown partner.

“Hey Flash,” Leonard raises a weak hand as a greeting.

“What happened here?” Barry continues to walk closer and within a few seconds is standing beside Snart and looking at the hole in the ground. 

Leonard shrugs, “Fell into this hole,” he removes the arm from his stomach and checks to see if he’s still bleeding. Yep. Still bleeding. 

It seems Barry noticed too, “Oh crap, you need medical attention,” he turns back to the other speedster, “Tell Caitlin to prepare for Snart.”

Barry bends forward to scoop up Snart, but the thief wacks the speedster’s hands away, “What do you think you’re doing?”  
The speedster looks at Snart with a dumbfounded expression, “I’m trying to take you to S.T.A.R. Labs so Caitlin can look at your wound.”  
Leonard shakes his head, “I don’t think that’s-”

He supposes he should be grateful the laws of physics don’t apply when travelling with speedsters, because he dreads to imagine how many G’s he just experienced as his body accelerates forward. Less than a second later, he appears in S.T.A.R. Labs. 

“-necessary,” Snart raises his good arm to his head and clenches his fist in frustration as he relaxes onto the medical bed.

The next few seconds are hazy and happen all so fast. At least six different sets of voices all echoed around the room and amongst all that chaos, Caitlin Snow had approached him and with a medical bag in hand. He felt exhausted, and with everything going on in the background, his mind was having a hard time trying to stay focused on the little things. 

What almost certainly caught his focus was the feel of her fingers at the hem of his shirt, where she was lifting it up to investigate the wound. 

His hand lunged for the doctor’s arm, fingers wrapping around her wrist, “Stop.”

It would be easy for her to mistake his tone as a plea, with how little energy he had left in him, but she stares at him intently, a small look of concern forming as she understands his intention not to feel exposed in front of all these people. 

“Hey!” Barry intervened as soon he witnessed the action and began prying the thief’s fingers off her wrist, “We’re just trying to help. You’re bleeding. Now please, what do you know?”

Snart frowned as he watched Cisco stick his fist out into the air before a giant blue portal appeared and he jumped through it with some device. Since when could he do that?

Caitlin, with her arm now free, turns to the others around them and asks them to all take a few steps back and give herself, Barry and Snart some space. She was considering getting the speedster to also give them some space, but he’s being useful in making sure Snart doesn’t pass out.

“I know we’re in S.T.A.R. Labs, which is looking like it’s had a renovation since I last broke in here,” Snart drawls. 

The thief growls as he feels the doctor’s surprisingly cold hands touch his wound. With his good hand, he frees his burnt arm from his jacket and tosses the clothing onto the floor. The doctor looks at the arm and simply nods as if she’s creating a mental checklist. 

“Broke in here?” Barry looks at him, “Last time you visited, we were after your help to transport the nuclear meta.”  
Snart’s eyebrows raise at that statement, “Nuclear meta?”

Caitlin turns part of her attention from his wound to him, “Yeah. With DeVoe, and your Earth’s Black Siren. Don’t you remember?”  
Snart frowns harder, looking between the two people in front of him, “No, I don’t. And what do you mean, my Earth’s?”

“You know?” the female speedster speaks up, “Earth-X? Nazi-dominated Earth that tried to invade this one?”  
Snart shakes his head, “I don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about. And the who the fuck are you lot?”

There were the familiar faces, Barry, Caitlin and Cisco, with the latter currently through some weird portal. But then there were unfamiliar ones. A man who, looked, like Harrison Wells, but not really. This other speedster, and a tall male with well-groomed hair. 

The blue portal from before reappeared and Cisco jumped through it. The device in his hand was beeping fast and loud.

“You know how speedsters generate tachyons? Well I just went to where that vortex appeared, and the amount of tachyon energy I’m reading makes speedsters look like a propeller engine against a rocket,” Cisco was plugging his scanner into the central computers and projecting the readings onto the wall of screens. 

Everyone went silent, looking at Cisco with puzzled expressions. 

“Ok,” sighed Cisco, “I admit not the best analogy, but I’m serious. These readings are beyond what the scanner can comprehend, I’m getting errors left right and centre on this thing.”

“Tachyons?” Barry looked over to his friend, “As in temporal energy?”  
“Yeah. That kind,” Cisco nodded and looked over to Snart.

Barry turned towards Leonard, “You’re not from Earth-X, are you?”  
“No. And how is there another Earth anyway?” Leonard responds.  
Barry ignores his question, “Do you know who you are? When and where you’re from?”

“You know my name Barry,” Leonard grits through his teeth, no longer caring if these strangers know the speedster’s name, “And the last time we talked was Christmas. Something about warning you from having your ass handed to you by Jesse and Mardon. How’d that go by the way?”

“How does he know who you are?” the unknown male’s voice spoke.  
“He looks the same,” Barry muttered, focusing on the last piece of information, “Like from before.”

Cisco’s head shot up from the computer and looked over to Barry, “You think so?”  
Barry shrugged, “Maybe. I don’t know,” he turned to Snart again, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Sending those time fuckers to kingdom come,” Snart drawled as his mind replayed the memory of holding the failsafe down.  
“Time fuckers?” the male voice spoke again, “What are those?”

“Time Bureau? The group with the Legends?” Caitlin spoke, “Has something happened to them?”  
“Not that I know of,” Barry shook his head and looked around to the others to see if they understood something, “What are you talking about?”

“Had to hold down the trigger while the others escaped. Someone had to stay behind,” Snart held up his burnt arm as his mind continued playing back the memories, standing next to Mick whose arm was currently in the failsafe trigger. 

“Ray,” Barry snapped his fingers as it suddenly made sense, “That’s what Ray said when he explained how Snart died. Where you time travelling before that?”  
“Yeah,” Snart drawled, “Almost defeated Savage too but things went to shit.”

“Oh my god,” Caitlin’s voice rang out across the silence that had formed in the group, “It’s actually you.”  
“Wow, I’ll call the Legends,” Cisco ran out of the cortex and towards his lab. 

“Dad?” the speedster approached them with a look of confusion on her face, “What is going on?”  
“Nora, meet Leonard Snart. The man who saved time,” Barry grinned.

XXX

An hour went by and introductions and explanations were given. 

Nora West-Allen, the daughter of Iris and Barry. Mazel Tov? Sort of. She wasn’t born yet in this time period, but had arrived from the future to meet with a father that she never got to connect with it. It was a bit confusing, but Snart picked up on it quite quickly. 

Ralph Dibny, a former cop turned PI, turned meta-human who could stretch like elastic rubber. He was charismatic, Snart couldn’t deny it. Also very chatty, and completely oblivious to the sinister look Snart was giving him when he had gotten frustrated with listening to him. A look that that was hiding a very cruel plot to freeze his mouth shut with his cold gun. Which he realised he no longer had with him. 

Harrison, Sherloque, Wells. The doppelganger of Harrison Wells from a different Earth. Leonard had to be explained the whole multiverse thing, but he caught on quickly. A fact that Ralph wasn’t happy about considering how long it took for him to grasp it. 

Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon now had powers. Both a surprise, which explained the blue portal from the male scientist. The former however was much more interesting for the cold thief. Killer Frost, as the alter ego called herself, immediately took a liking to Leonard, something about being able to relate with someone who understood the cold as she did. 

Then comes the explanation about what had actually happened to him. According to the scans, that he hesitantly permitted Snow to conduct on his body, revealed that massive surges of temporal energy were coursing through him. A result of being so entangled with the Oculus device when it went off. 

As for the reason of him existing in the first place, they chalk it up to the assumption that a temporal pocket was created around the Oculus device before it completed exploded, and protected him from the damage. 

And as for returning back to Central City, they have to assume that the device simply identified where Leonard was originally from and tried to return him. Getting shot apparently knocked him off course, which was the most disconcerting thing about the entire thing. 

Three and a half years off course. He’d left for the Legends in January 2016, and now it’s August 2019. Over three and a half years he’d been dead to the world. Three and a half years he’d been dead to Sara, Mick and Lisa. 

Supposedly, the Legends had to deal with repairing time, a cost of freeing the timeline from the control of the Time Master. Then they broke it entirely, then tried to repair it again, then broke it again, then fought magical creatures while trying to repair it. Then some celestial being tried rewriting all of history and just about every hero had to be involved in fixing that problem. 

Leonard looked at Barry tentatively, staring at the speedster who he was certain must be on drugs. But considering Leonard blew up a time controlling machine, and he was looking a speedster, a frost queen, and the speedster’s daughter from the future, maybe it wasn’t that much of a stretch to believe his telling of the events. 

Snart was momentarily saddened to hear the news about Professor Stein. Snart remembered his last conversation with the old man, how he’d promise to tell Clarissa what happened if Stein didn’t make it back home. He found it morbidly ironic, that he was the one to not make it home after that mission.

“The Legends are coming as soon as possible. Within half an hour,” Cisco reported, stuffing a communication’s device into his pocket as he re-entered the cortex, “And your sister is currently out of town. I’ll see if I can track her with my powers and bring her here.”

It sounded so discomforting to just hear them all rattle on about their business. Powers that could literally be used to track the location of people, then create some makeshift wormhole to their location. 

It didn’t sit well with Leonard, his cynicism likely generating this uncomfortable feeling. He’s used to people abusing their responsibilities and powers, and his mind can’t help but associate similar cynicism to the people around him. 

“How is it that we’re waiting for people on a time ship?” Ralph’s question raises a good point. 

However, other than the fact that they are simply the Legends, a reputation which speaks for itself, nobody can scientifically answer Ralph’s question.

Half an hour went by incredibly slowly. Caitlin was continuing to work on his wounds, using her powers to numb the pain around his wound and to stop the burning feeling on his arm. She was talking not only for herself, but the other voice in her head. It was odd, her freezing touch displaying a sense of warmness within her as she tended to his wounds. In the short amount of time in which she sat with him, he could easily tell she was far from the same woman who he kidnapped and strapped a bomb to all those years ago. He could also tell that plan would certainly never work again now. 

Nora also sat with him, and she was definitely intrigued by him, saying that she’d read about Captain Cold in the Flash museum from the future. A bit of Snart felt quite impressed, that his legacy had somehow managed to continue into the future, only to have that feeling squashed upon learning he only gets a small plaque on the wall. If that tells him anything, it’s that he needs to find a way of fixing the serious problem that is his pitiful legacy. 

“So what’s this secret that you’re hiding from us?” a familiar, chipper voice spoke from the corridor leading into the cortex. 

A second later and Raymond Palmer was the first person to round the corner and enter the cortex. Shortly behind him were two women, both with long black hair and pieces of jewellery around their necks. One red like a ruby, and the other black like coal. They barely paid him much attention as they entered. 

It was the people behind them that he really focused on though. There they were. Mick and Sara, both looking much older than he last remembered. He had to remember, at least three years had passed, and time travel meant they could have aged further during missions compared to the people who live by continuous time. 

“Oh hey Leo,” Raymond beamed a wide smile at the thief.  
“Since when did you call me Leo?” Snart turned to Barry for some kind of explanation, “Doppelganger?” The speedster nodded in confirmation. 

“Wait?” the woman with the red gem spoke, “You’re not Leo?”  
“Haven’t been called Leo since I was a kid, sweetheart,” Snart drawled, eyes scanning her, fixating on that pretty, red gem of hers.

Mick’s eyes suddenly locked onto his and the pyro examined him with determination. Snart could see the cogs turning behind his eyes. 

Then Leonard’s attention shifted to the blonde standing beside his partner who was watching him cautiously. 

Snart grinned and sent her a wink, “Hey assassin,” and he watched her eyes widen with realisation.

“Snart?” she spoke softly as she rounded the central computers, but stopped herself from going anything further.

“I hear it’s been a while.”

XXX

*(present day)*  
A burst of cold temperature shocked him out of his relaxed state, “Christ!”

The warm water in the bathtub turned freezing within a matter of seconds, startling Leonard out of his sleep. In his sudden waking, he shot forward, the jolting movement sliding his wireless headphones off his head and causing them to crash against the wall before clattering to the tiled floor. 

Groaning as the cold water makes his muscles ache, the grogginess of his sleep makes him slow to take in his surroundings. 

When he does come to, and his vision finally clears, he finds Caitlin standing in the doorway of the bathroom in Leonard and Sara’s apartment. Her mixed white and red hair stands out brightly, her eyes transitioning back from the icy blue to their natural state as the mist around her hand dissipates. 

“From what I’m told,” her icy voice faded as well and returned to her calm usual voice, “You deserved that.”  
Snart groaned as he leant back in the tub, wishing it didn’t hurt so much to try and submerge his head and avoid talking to her, “Nice to see you too, doctor.”  
“Emphasis on the doctor part,” she snapped, “Something you seemingly forget two days ago.”

It had been two days since the stuff up in the warehouse, and he’d done a pretty good job at keeping himself hidden in their apartment, away from the prying eyes of the S.T.A.R. Labs crew. But he knew it wasn’t going to last long. For almost two though, it was nice to just hide out. 

“How’d you know?” Snart drawled as he nestled himself into a comfortable position, the cold water no longer as uncomfortable as it just was.  
“We caught Lance sneaking into the medical supply room in S.T.A.R. Labs yesterday morning” Caitlin spoke, “She told me everything, but said that I should wait before barging in here and teaching you a lesson.”

Leonard, in his desire to not be caught by the doctor, requested Sara to sneak into S.T.A.R. Labs, pick up some of the pain killers, nano-meds and some braces for his legs. He didn't think she would get caught, but part of him thinks that maybe she purposely made her intrusion known.

Sara returned that morning, but she didn’t talk to him much for the rest of the day, other than to make sure he was recovering. She still had that worried look on her face, the same one that appeared every time Leonard began going into great detail about this last mission.

“Everything, everything?” Snart looked at her through the corner of his eyes.  
She took a deep breath in, “Yep.”

Oh. Part of him feels guilty he didn’t tell her himself. He expected Sara to just discuss his stupidity at getting caught and leaving his partner behind. He didn’t expect her to reveal the whole retirement plan however, and part of him feels robbed for not being able to tell Caitlin himself. Leonard can’t really blame Sara, because when Caitlin or Frost, or both, want answers, you answer those questions and then some. 

“I was going to tell you,” he glances at her for a moment.

Her hum is the only response he gets, signifying the end of the current topic. Silence hangs between them, and Leonard realises that she’s going to remain silent until he says something. 

“So now you’ve barged in here, what lesson are you going to teach me doc?” he knows he’s playing a risky game with the faux eagerness in his tone, but sass comes naturally in tense situations. 

“Haven’t decided yet,” Snow spoke as she entered the bathroom walked over to the counter sink and observed the medication sprawled over it, “You taking the correct dosage?” gesturing to a vial of liquid and a needle beside it. 

“Fourteen and a half milligrams,” he repeats the instructions labelled on the bottle. 

It was a tense silence in the bathroom, his eyes darting around her form, waiting to see what she does next. She does not do much, simply picking up the containers of medication, and making it seem as if they were the most important thing in the entire world. And he knew that for her, it was a means of keeping herself collected and preventing the other side of her from breaking loose. 

“As your best friend, and doctor,” she emphasises once more, “I really wish you’d have come to me instead of holing up in here,” Caitlin crosses her arms over her chest.  
Snart groans as he shifts himself around in the tub, “Didn’t want to waste your precious time, doc.”

Caitlin scoffs and continues to inspect the stolen medical supplies, “Frost wants to have her way with you. You’re lucky I’m holding her back, otherwise, you might end up in a giant ice cube for the stunt you pulled.” 

Things between him and Frost were, something. While Caitlin and Leonard were amicable about the ending of their relationship, it was different for Frost, who had developed a lot stronger feelings for Leonard than her doctor counterpart. Lingering feelings for him still continue. 

Frost hated, correction, loathed, every time Leonard would get injured or in danger. He was the only man she’d ever cared for in her entire life. Every time he would appear in S.T.A.R. Labs with some major injury, it took a lot of effort from everyone to keep the icy meta in check and not go on some revenge spree. 

“Sounds fun,” he drawled as he leant forward to turn the hot water tap back on.

It was unnecessary however, because Caitlin’s hand extended towards him and began siphoning the cold out of the water, creating a thick mist as the cold turned back into heat. The water felt warm again, as if it hadn’t almost just been frozen into a block of ice moments ago, and Leonard felt comfortable sinking his body beneath the surface. 

“Thanks,” he mutters, breaking his gaze from her back, “And, how are you?” he tries to play it off coolly, as if he’s doing it out of politeness, but they both know a part of him does care.  
“Great,” she replies nonchalantly, “Up until yesterday morning,” she looks at him in the reflection of the cabinet mirror.

He coughs whilst trying to hide a grin, “That’s a shame. What happened? Did someone else break in and try and steal something?”  
Caitlin rolls her eyes, “Very funny Len.”

“I take it she didn’t handle the news very well,” he guesses, it being unnecessary to disclose the person behind the pronoun. 

Caitlin bites her bottom lip and nods, continuing to look at him only through the reflection of the mirror, “There was a scene. One of the corridors is still being defrosted.”

Her attention turns to the two leg braces sitting beside the bathtub and she frowns, but shakes her head and sighs as she approaches him. 

“Lean forward,” she gestured with her finger as she stood over him, a blank expression on her face.

Snart complied, wincing at the discomfort of doing so, but with Caitlin’s hand on his back to help him, the pain is bearable. It’s silences like these, where he can feel the silent judgement coming off the doctor as she assesses all his recent injuries, that he finds the most uncomfortable. For the most part, Caitlin does not judge or hold people’s pasts against then, just as she doesn’t hold being abducted and almost blown up against him. 

So when he knows she judges him for getting himself into stupid situations that result in him getting hurt, he knows he messed up.

“What did I say about your shoulder?” she pokes him in the arm with a stern frown. 

Her hands are cold in contrast to the warmness of the water, but he’s used to the touch. She’s delicate in the way she assesses each bruise, wound and bone that had been injured during his fuck up. As much as Caitlin has confidence in Sara’s medical assessment of his injuries, when it comes down to it, Caitlin always prefers to make her own assessment. 

Very few things make Leonard squirm and want to curl up in a ball and hide away from the world. The disappointed sigh escaping the doctor’s mouth is one of those things. 

She stands back up and looks down at him blankly. 

“Don’t fuck this up Len,” the coldness in her tone is entirely of her own, which makes him dread what Frost might sound like right now, “You got lucky this time, and you’ve already used up your second chance at life.”

“I won’t,” Snart growls, anger very much self-directed.

She understands what he’s going through, even if he doesn’t quite understand it himself yet. It’s something he has to figure out, and learn to control before it controls him, before he makes another decision that proves itself to be fatal. 

Caitlin sighs and turns to leave, halting at the bathroom door and looking back at him over her shoulder, “Sara and I are getting lunch. You want us to pick up anything for you?”

Leonard shakes his head, looks to the doctor with an expression that describes his thanks. Her smile is slight, but there as they bid farewell. When the door closes behind her, he slides the headphones back over his head and relaxes back into the water. Within a few minutes, the soothing music lulls him back to sleep. A moment of peace where his mind isn’t causing him trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't watched Titans yet, or are still sceptical based on pre-release footage, just go ahead and watch it. This story, although heavily inspired by the second episode, does not spoil anything from the show.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blamo! Here's the next chapter. Coming at you from almost midnight in Australia. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or shows this work is based on.

*January 2020 (five months after his return)*  
Adjusting to 2019 and now 2020 was difficult at first. With it being years since his departure from Central City, and the fact that neither Mick nor Lisa stuck around, all his safehouses were eventually discovered or repurposed. It also meant that all his reserve funds and stockpiles were reclaimed, leaving Snart with nothing but a blank slate.

Homeless, broke, and with no idea of what to do, he spent the first few weeks living in S.T.A.R. Labs and trying to keep himself distracted. Apparently, the heroes didn’t like his idea of robbing a few places to replenish his lost funds very much. 

One day, out of the many where Leonard just sits in the labs and ponder, a prototype cold gun is thrown onto his lap. Frost, standing just a few meters away, gives him the option to follow her in taking out some gangsters who have been breaking into some car dealerships. From that moment onwards, a small spark forms between the lost thief and the icy meta. A bond which extends to offering Leonard a proper bedroom in Caitlin’s guest room in her apartment. 

He was cautious at first, not wanting to overstep any boundaries between the two-in-one meta, but even the good doctor herself insisted he sleeps in a proper bed, lives in a proper apartment. And so, now Leonard had a roommate. 

A roommate that had a very extreme case of split personality. Caitlin was tactful, Frost was blunt. Caitlin was warm, Frost was cold. Caitlin was reserved and respectful, Frost was flirty and outgoing. But he got used to it, started going along with it, and within a couple of weeks, something in the dynamic of their friendship changed. That includes Caitlin herself, who was surprised to find just how much she had grown to like Leonard. 

If anyone asks her when she finally realised her attraction to him, it was when he showed how adamant he was about changing Killer Frost to just Frost. He plays it under the logic that he simply doesn’t like the way it rolls off the tongue, but she could see that deep down, he loathed the idea of her being labelled a killer. Leonard has spent plenty of time around killers, is one himself for that matter, and he simply finds it wrong that someone like Caitlin and her icy counter-part have that kind of association to their name.

This attraction between the three of them eventually grew into something more as the months passed on. Their relationship had only become intimate just a week ago, when the three of them agreed that they all needed it, both emotionally and physically. 

Ever since Caitlin’s core body temperature dropped after gaining her powers, being able to hold someone, or be held by someone became a challenge. But then there was Leonard. A man who can handle the cold, welcomed it, and Frost thought it was the most amazing thing to ever happen to her.

No labels, no expectations or plans for long term commitment. Just the simple matter of taking pleasure in the company of each other and letting things go on from there. 

Kissing frozen lips seems like a bad idea on paper, one would think it’s like trying to kiss a frozen lamp post. Whilst he was unconcerned when it came to Caitlin, Leonard certainly had that fear cross his mind when it came to Frost, who was even colder. To get over this fear, he required the doctor to provide scientific proof that it wasn’t going to happen to him, because he had no intention of going through the humiliating process of trying to melt his mouth free from hers. 

Scientific proof came in the shape of a quick transformation and Frost planting her lips on his. Then laughing as she places her hand on his chest over his heart which was beating rapidly with adrenaline. Once the demonstration was complete, and assurances her made, he got her back for that.

That was a week ago.

In their apartment on a Friday evening, after a tough week of dealing with this meta who could ghost through any object, making it very difficult to keep on his tail and ultimately take him down, things were getting heated in Caitlin’s apartment between the two icy residents. 

The intensity and friction generated during their kisses provided a warmth that had them eager more for of each other. 

Icy hands and their chilling touch trace his body, one hand around his neck while the other explores his chest, sending the occasional pulse of cold through his body. His hands were doing similar, one cupping the side of her chilly face while the other began removing the blue jacket around her body. 

Her hands break away from him to slide off her jacket, with his own going in and removing her shirt right after. Warm hands immediately go to her now naked chest, the clashing temperatures sending her nerves wild as he presses her harder against the wall. 

“Len, please,” a moan elicited from her mouth as she looks up to the ceiling in response to the sensation across her body. 

His eyes looked into her crystal eyes, a visible hunger, and lust for him that he knew she’d been wanting for a while now. A desire that had grown immeasurably in the past week when she experienced this through Caitlin’s perspective. 

“Not so fast Frosty,” he drawled into her ear, causing shivers to go down her spine at his words. 

His hands slid down her body towards her legs, and with little effort, he lifted her up, eliciting another very attractive and enticing sound from her mouth in doing so. He grinds himself against her, her legs chilling his waist above his jeans.

He took his time, controlled and meticulous in every touch across her body. He felt her mouth biting at his shoulder, pulses of cold energy pumping through that arm causing those muscles to convulse whilst trying to hold onto her. 

With her holding onto him and his hands underneath her butt, he moved them off the wall and nudged open the door to their bedroom. Her eyes shot open, and a grin formed on her face as her lips returned to his, one hand holding the back of his head, while the other slid down the back of his pants. 

“I better not get frostbite from all this,” he whispers into her ear with a low tone.

He spins her around onto the bed, laying her back as he stands at the base.

“No promises,” she smirks, her hand reaches out for him and with a hard tug, she pulls him down on top of her.

XXX

*August 2019 (a few days after his return)*  
The days following his dumping into 2019 by the time stream were exhausting as he began reconnecting with people. 

Snart and Mick hit it off pretty well, once Mick was convinced it was truly him. The pyro told him all about their different voyages and missions, things he’d stolen which he would bring back and show off to his partner. The most impressive thing out of everything that Mick brought along, had nothing to do with something the pyro stole. In fact, it had everything to do with something the pyro created. 

Uncaged Desires, whilst not Leonard’s kind of genre of books, was a big surprise. For the first time, Leonard could see genuine proudness and pleasure from his partner about something unrelated to pyromania. A way of Mick expressing himself without the use of a burning building. It was a feeling that Leonard never knew he needed to see in his old friend, and one that he never wants to see fade. 

Snart’s stubborn, and he’ll never admit it to anyone, but he appreciated Raymond’s excitement and rejoice for his return. He immediately introduced Snart to his girlfriend Nora Darhk, a woman dragged through various versions of hell, possessed by some of the most powerful demons around numerous times, and still standing. 

The other woman was Zari Tomaz, a woman from the future, a few years earlier than Nora. She was interesting, smart and sarcastic. At first it felt like he was talking to a female version of himself. A thief, a survivor, who hides behind sarcasm, likes high tech gadgets and uses one of the elements of nature as a weapon. She was chill, didn’t overreact or do anything drastic, and somehow that just made him think she was even more like him than he thought. She’s going to be interesting to get to know.

Sara however, was cautious around him. She hugged him, but somehow it all felt wrong. Like she was doing it simply because she thinks it’s the right thing to do. And after that one moment, she acted like there was an invisible bubble around him. Every smile afterwards was forced, ingenuine, and was a mask for something else behind it. 

And when she did that, it hurt. Like a knife through the heart. The woman who in his memory, had kissed him a few hours ago, was now unable to come within a few meters of him. He tried to ask her what was wrong multiple times over, but she’d always avoid the topic, shift the conversation or just find an excuse to be somewhere he isn’t. 

Mick sat him down one evening at a bar, dinner consisting of steak and fries, with beer as their drinks, and told him everything that had changed with the team. The Legion of Doom and the Spear of Destiny mess, which resulted in breaking and altering reality. Then there was Rip abandoning the team to form some Time Bureau, then the following attempts to try and repair the timeline, only to break it again with the whole Totem Bearing thing. 

Leonard didn’t even want to try and guess what a Beeboo was, let alone begin to understand whatever six-person orgy/merge/combination of powers thing that Mick was trying to explain. 

And then came the news that suddenly shifted Leonard’s entire perspective on his situation. The girlfriend of Sara Lance. 

“It took a while,” Mick scoffs down a piece of the steak, “But she finally put herself out there and found someone.”

“Is she good?” even with this revelation that chaotically destroys all of Leonard’s dreams, he still finds something inside him that wants to be certain she’s happy. 

Mick’s shrug doesn’t ease his conscious, “I don’t like her,” then again, Mick doesn’t like many people, “But she’s good to the Captain, so I put up with it.”

Leonard nods, his appetite suddenly lost now as he slides his plate away from him. Mick watches carefully, and he can feel his partner’s glare, but he sits through it. 

“Not your fault,” Mick says, “Even if you did knock me out to sacrifice yourself. You didn’t know you were coming back.”

He can see that Mick’s bothered and that someday, sooner rather than later, they’re going to have to talk about what Leonard did. But that day isn’t now. 

He asks Mick where the Waverider is, and the next morning, he heads out in search for the time vessel. It was parked in an abandoned lot in the warehouse district. It looked different, the new paint job and thrusters were noticeable when the cloak disengaged for him to board. 

“Good morning Mr Snart,” Gideon’s voice spoke over the speakers as Leonard entered the cargo bay entrance, “I was very excited to hear your return from Mr Palmer and Mr Rory.”  
Leonard smiled, a genuine one, “I didn’t think you cared about me, Gideon.”  
“You may have been a criminal, but I always liked you Mr Snart,” Gideon soft voice replied. 

Leonard lifted his thumb into the air and smiled at the roof, “Thanks Gideon. Is Sara here?”  
“Ms Lance is the parlour,” Gideon replied, “Or what you knew as Captain Hunter’s office.”

Leonard nodded and walked towards the bridge. For him, it was only a week ago that he’d been walking these corridors, heading to Sara’s room with a pack of cards in hand, once he finished pacing back and forth in his room for like half an hour trying to build up the courage to do so. Millions of different scenarios going on in his head during that moment. All of them based around those three little words, ‘Me and you.’

It seemed however, that all that he got from those words, were a challenge, one that he no longer felt appropriate to complete. He’s a thief, a criminal, but he’s not someone who messes with other people’s relationships. 

He walked through the ship and as he neared the galley, he could hear muffled talking and the sound of plates moving around. He didn’t think anyone else was on the ship, so he quietened his footsteps as he approached. 

Sure enough, two people were sitting inside. A man in a light brown trench coat, red tie over his clean white shirt, and a lighter in hand. Sitting beside a woman with blonde hair, a casual grey shirt and shorts eating her lunch. 

Snart appeared at the doorway and they were momentarily shocked but were quickly settled.

“Ah Leo,” the scruffy looking man spoke in a British accent, “Didn’t know you were back mate. Sorry, no demon occupied asylums this time.”

Leo? Crap. Leonard had to improvise, because he sure as hell didn’t know who these people were and with no one else around, he wasn’t sure if revealing himself as not Leo was a safe option. 

His mind raced as he tried to guess on how to act. From Mick’s description of Leo, he was more charismatic and politer than himself. He could fake that. Now about this demon asylum. Say the wrong thing and his cover could be blown, and then who knows what might happen. Two possible options on how he could respond. 50-50. 

“Not interested in a repeat of that disaster anyway.”

Ok, so maybe it was more a 90-10 percent guess then, because Mick had said something along the lines of almost screwing up every single thing they encountered, so assuming that a demon occupied asylum mission went to shit was definitely more likely than it working as expected. 

Fortunately, it seemed to be the right response, because the other man smirked at him and nodded.

“Oh lord,” the woman eating her breakfast sighed, “Don’t remind of that mission. I still can’t believe you and Sara did it in the basement of that crazy place. And then you let her get possessed by Mallus!”

Leonard almost broke character. The fuck? This guy had sex with Sara in the basement of a possessed asylum? Wasn’t she supposed to have a girlfriend, not banging some guy in a basement? And demon possession? Leonard is missing way too many pieces of the Legend’s puzzle to try and even understand what has happened. Mick’s summary can really only go so far in creating the picture. 

“Oh don’t worry Sharpy,” the man mocked, “We all know how she ran towards you right after.”

Leonard looked at the blonde and his eyes widened. This was her? This was the girlfriend? Well, she’s hot for starters. He certainly doesn’t blame the assassin for finding her attractive. 

She saw the surprised look on his face and then she smiled, “Oh yeah, Sara and I got together after you went back to your Earth. She told me I should thank you for giving her the boost of confidence.”

Snart wasn’t prepared for that. Part of him thought it just some unfunny joke, but he knew it to be true. He really didn’t want to believe that his doppelganger of all people, had helped Sara form a relationship with the woman in front of him. He’s not sure what he wants to do more. Punch his other self, or find of way of going back to the Oculus and making sure he stays dead, because it seems time continues to screw him over, even after blowing the damn thing up. 

“So uh,” Leonard took a deep breath as he recomposed himself, “Where is the fine captain anyway?”  
“On the bridge mate, holed up in there for a while now,” the male spoke. 

Sharpy nodded in confirmation, “Sara won’t tell me much, practically refusing to hold a conversation if I try and ask her what’s wrong.”  
“I’ll see if I can’t go get a word out of the captain,” Leonard drawled as he turned to leave. 

“Good luck mate, and watch your eyes! I heard daggers being sharpened!” the male yelled out from the kitchen, but Snart had already stormed down the corridor. 

He’s on a mission, and he’s going to talk to Sara. Even if it means they end everything there. He just needs to talk to her, a proper talk. 

He expects the doors to the bridge to be locked if she’s hiding herself in there, but when Leonard approaches and they automatically slide open, he can’t help but think that the AI had something to do with it overriding the locks. 

Stepping through, he’s momentarily taken back by the shift in the layout of the bridge, with more chairs than before, in an entirely different arrangement. The centre console isn’t the same holographic deck it once was, now circular in shape. 

But the change of conditions doesn’t hold his attention for long, because the quick turning of the blonde woman he’s after becomes his new focus. 

“How did you-” she begins.

“We need to talk,” he interrupts, still making his way past the glass divider and stopping at the bottom of the steps to the parlour.

He sees her tense, look to the roof with a frustrated frown and then look everywhere but at him. Her face tried to show her calmness, but every action she took broke that illusion. In staying consistent with her keeping distant, she smoothly skirts around the circular table as Leonard walks up the stairs until she’s on the exact opposite side from him. 

“We’ve already talked. I’m glad you’re not, dead,” Sara spoke calmly and professionally, and he knew it was complete bullshit.

“Well I’m convinced,” he drawls sarcastically, standing firm as Sara stares him dead in the eye with a strong fierceness, “Look, about what I was doing in S.T.A.R. Labs, I wouldn’t have done it if I had known you were seeing someone.”

All those attempted touches, references to past discussions, seductive smirks and remarks. Learning about Sara’s new relationship had made him feel guilty for all of it. 

“Mick only told me last night, and as I was on my way here to apologise, I saw her in the galley.”

“You’ve talked to her?” Sara was shocked and she looked at him with wide eyes.

Snart gestures with his hand in a ‘sort of’ fashion, “I may or may not have pretended to be my doppelganger, Leo, but yes I talked with Sharpy.”

Her brows furrow, and she looks at him with a glare, “Sharpy?” her voice sounded annoyed and Leonard wasn’t particularly sure why. 

“Yeah?” Leonard answered with a cautious drawl, “British guy called her that.”

The tension eased from her face and she rolled her eyes and muttered, “Typical John. Her name is Ava Sharpe. Don’t listen to John, he’ll probably try to seduce you.”

“Like he did you?” Snart immediately regretted it as soon as the words came out of his mouth.

He internally berates himself, cursing his instinctual ability to make jabs at people. Her eyes narrowed and for a brief moment, there is genuine anger behind them.

“Sorry,” he cuts her off as it looks like she’s about to go off at him, “I came to apologise, not to accuse you or anything. I’m just, I don’t know. Lost.”

It’s the first time he’s admitting how he feels since coming back, and not just to other people, but to himself as well. Standing here, looking at the woman who he thought he would have plans with, feeling lost was probably an understatement for him really. 

He was lost in this transition from his previous memories, to three years later and trying to adjust to it all. Trying to convince himself that there was no ‘Me and You’ anymore. It was so difficult, and right now, he needed to stop with the snarky, sassy attitude and try and figure things out. Fuck emotions. He curses his heart’s sense of timing, finally accepting he has feelings for the blonde, only to go and get himself blown up to save her. 

“I understand,” she spoke softly as she dropped into the chair at the opposite side of the round table. With a gentle gesture, she suggested he take a seat, “I really do. When I died and came back, it was really hard to understand anything. Add in a case of bloodlust and it was even harder. But you’ll get through this, because there’s plenty of people here who can help you get used to this new life, help you find your place, like being a Legend and taking down Savage helped me find mine.”

“You were meant to be that person,” Snart mutters to himself, but he’d forgotten about her ninja senses.

“Leonard. Don’t,” her voice almost sounded like a plea.

But Snart needed to know, he needed answers, “Would you have given us a shot? If I didn’t stay behind at the Oculus and returned to the Waverider with you, would you have given us a shot?”

Her breath hitched, and subconsciously she scratches around her eyes to stop herself from looking at him, “I don’t know. Maybe. I didn’t handle your death well, and when Rip sent us home five months after we joined, it only got worse,” he looked at her curiously, and a small trace of sympathy on his face, “Because by that time, my sister Laurel had been murdered and I couldn’t save her. Just like I couldn’t save you.”

She stood up from her chair with a hefty push and walked over to the cabinet behind her and grabbed two glasses and a bottle of whiskey from one of their mission, “For weeks I was living with this guilt of both of your deaths, endless amounts of ideas going through my head as to how to save you both.”

She pops the cork off the bottle and pauses to look him dead in the eyes, “You don’t how cruel it was to have an actual time machine in my control, but not be able to go back in time and save either of you. You died outside of time Snart, where there is no past or future, only present, and I hated you for that. God, I hated you so much for dying in the one place in the universe where there was no actual way of saving you. We couldn’t go back moments before and rescue you. We tried, but we couldn’t.

“And my sister! I actually had the chance to go back and save her, but it was just as cruel. Because if I tried to save her, my entire family dies, myself included.”

Sara pours the drink into the two glasses and slides one across the table to him, sculling hers immediately, “I would have given us a chance, and I would have done my fucking best to make it work, but we lost that opportunity. So I had to move on,” he watches as she turns her head away from him, a faint glow appearing by her eye, “Had to give up on thinking about the what ifs and maybes there could have been with you, and my sister.”

He takes the drink, consuming it in one swig, trying to focus on the burning in the back of his throat instead of the emotions going through his head. It helped, barely.

“You need to do the same Leonard,” her voice is barely a whisper that travels across the table, “All I can suggest is you find something, or someone to help you find your place.”

Snart rises from his seat, planting the glass on the table in front of him before turning back towards her. He takes a few steps, stopping at the frame of the parlour and looks behind him. She does an outstanding job of making it look like the bottle in her hand is the only thing around her, her eyes almost boring holes through the glass. 

Her hand brushes against her eye, and he sees the small stain of a tear and the glimmer it creates in the light. 

“It was never my intention,” he spoke loudly as he stepped down the steps.

He had already left the bridge by the time she mustered the courage to say something in response, “I stopped blaming you a long time ago.”

Snart departed from the ship, deciding to take the longer route out of the ship to avoid the galley and its guests. When he stepped out into the fresh air, he wanted to go home, later realising that he no longer had one. Out of options, his mind gave him the address of the one person he could count on at this time. 

XXX

*January 2020 (the following morning)*  
“You want to talk about it?” Caitlin stepped out of the bathroom connected to the bedroom, a hairbrush going through her mixed auburn and white hair as she watches him lying on the bed. 

She wears a loose-fitting t-shirt, one of his, and nothing else. She is beautiful, a statement he often repeats to her in recent weeks. Long slender legs, muscular build, hair that looked great both auburn and icy white, somehow even better when mixed as it currently is. 

He raised an eyebrow from the book he was reading and eyed her, “Well I didn’t get frostbite. And I didn’t know Frost could do that,” he emphasises.

Caitlin rolls her eyes exaggeratedly and walks across to the other side of the room, continuing to brush her hair as she stops by the window and peers down to the street below, “You know what I’m talking about.”

Snart smirks, sliding the bookmark into position before closing the book and placing it on the bedside table. Romance was definitely not his preferred genre for novels, but god damn is Mick good at writing a captivating story. 

“Who cares about talking when we could be doing something much more entertaining?”

He reaches out to her, his body leaning off the bed to gently tug at the back of her shirt, but she turned around, making him lose grip while she shook her head at him. 

“Nuh ah,” she wags her finger in front of his face, “I just showered, and I’ve got to go to work in half an hour,” she points out, pushing his hand back.

An annoyed sigh escapes him, and he flops back onto the bed, “Since you’re the boss, don’t you just get to go in whenever you like?”

Caitlin smirked at him, “That’s the third time you’ve asked me that question, this week.”

“Maybe because for the third time this week I want you to take a day off, so we do much more, interesting, things,” Leonard replied, turning his head on the pillow to look at her. 

“Aww,” Caitlin’s voice was clearly intended to tease, and she leans forward to tap her finger on his nose, “The big, bad, thief just wants someone to cuddle,” she giggles before standing up straight and tapping him on the forehead, “And quit trying to change the subject.”

“I don’t know what you could possibly be talking about,” clearly a faux innocence in his tone. 

“You ran like a scared puppy in a thunderstorm from the cortex yesterday when you heard Sara was coming by with Mick for some help with a problem,” Caitlin looked at him sternly.  
“I did not!” Leonard scoffed as he picked up his book again, “I simply remembered I had somewhere else to be.”

“Oh yes,” Caitlin’s sarcasm forms strong, “Because the homeless, jobless, thief has somewhere to be other than here or S.T.A.R. Labs.”

“I’m not exactly homeless if I’ve been living with you, am I?” he challenges her statement. 

Her expression turns soft, ignores his counter argument and sits down beside his leg, resting a gentle hand on his, “I thought you two were alright at the New Year’s party. What happened to, trying to be friends with her?”

“You know I don’t make friends easy,” he drawls.  
“Zari and the Nora’s seem to disagree,” she points out. 

Lying was pointless. He should know better, but he still attempts it anyway. Caitlin’s right. It didn’t take too long for him to become more than just acquainted with the new people on the teams. 

Zari would either come by or call him once a week, usually with some tech design that she wants him to examine, having been impressed by his keen eye for flaws in a plan. Leonard is a bit more tolerable and less likely to go off into a tangent when bouncing ideas off of each other. He had been right in his initial assumption though. It felt a lot like looking in a gender-swapped mirror as he talks with her. However, her insatiable appetite is quite possibly one of their most opposite traits, and it almost scares him with just how much she can eat at a time. 

Nora Allen was cautious after introductions were properly made. It took her a bit to realise that Snart had almost killed her father multiple times, but when Barry vouched for him, something he wasn’t expecting, Nora began to relax around him. But she was still very energetic in her relaxed state, a fitting description of her when he was made aware of her codename. And so his plan, to release some of that excess energy she carries with her, was to have her help out in pulling pranks on her father. He regulates these pranks under the notion of keeping Barry on his feet, and Nora is eager to help, much to her father’s annoyance. She’s a good kid, still needs to learn a few things or two, but he sees her potential. 

And Nora Darhk, well he didn’t do much with her. At least just the two of them. It’s mainly with the presence of Ray, who would drag Snart out of the labs when they visit to get to know Nora and have lunch with them. She enjoys his company, understands him and what kind of person he is. Without really discussing it all that much, they both understand the kind of childhoods they had. It’s companionable between, she respects him, he respects her. He particularly enjoys the moments when she uses her magic, because even Leonard can be wowed by the occasional magic trick. 

“Fine,” Snart grumbles, “but I never had a past with them.”  
“So why don’t you and Sara try to start brand new?” Caitlin suggests, squeezing his hand. 

He contemplates it, “And ignore everything that’s happened between us?”

Caitlin nodded, “In these last four months since your return, you’ve changed drastically. You’re a new you Len, and don’t try to argue, because you know it’s true.”

He sighs, knowing she’s right. He definitely can’t imagine himself in the past, making friends with the Flash’s daughter. And he definitely can’t imagine himself with Caitlin a few years ago. 

“And after all these years, Sara’s a different person too. So, start again, this time as your new selves. Without a history.”

Caitlin had a point, and Leonard stared at her silently as he processed the idea through his head. He’d have to treat his time on the Waverider as if it never really happened, all those moments, that time where they spent freezing to death while they dealt with pirates. It would have to be forgotten if he were to start again, brand new. 

And maybe, that was okay. He can stop trying to focus on whatever they were in the past, and focus on just being friends the future. He could do that. Correction. He wanted, to do that. 

“Not a bad idea doc. Have I told you, you’re the best?” he drawled, leaning forward to kiss her.

She smiles into the kiss, cupping his cheek in her hand as she pulls away and looks into his blue eyes, “Oh I know I am, but don’t let that stop you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Leonard and Sara next chapter. I just wanted to use this chapter to establish what Leonard does and how he adapts to 2019/20


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kachow! Another chapter coming at you from a more reasonable time of night in Australia. 
> 
> Thanks for the comments and the kudos. I'm very pleased to know you readers find this story interesting and different from the typical stories around. It was what I was hoping for when I got the idea after watching Titans. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

*present day*  
Caitlin and Sara sat down at the lounge on the top floor of Jitters. It was quiet, with relatively few people around since it was about an hour before normal lunch time. Their coffee arrived a few moments later along with their small lunch. 

“He’s obsessing about this mission, isn’t he?” Caitlin speaks after taking a long sip of her coffee. 

Sara stop hers just before she takes a drink and glances her eyes over the rim to look at Caitlin, “How did you know?”

Caitlin shrugs, “It’s the only reason he would do something stupid like leave you behind, and get himself captured.”

Sara makes an ‘O’ shape with her mouth as Caitlin gets it spot on. Obsessive is definitely the word she would use to describe Leonard’s current mental state. But nothing in the Canary’s head can find logic or reason as to why this mission has sparked this obsession. She personally, cannot wait for this damn thing to be over and it can just be her and Snart without the worry of a lucky bullet ending their story before the next chapter can begin. 

“It’s meant to be a simple bust. Sneak in, take out of the bad guys, then destroy the weapons,” Sara explains.  
“Simple don’t mean easy,” Caitlin laughs.

They’ve both heard those words come out of the former crook’s mouth enough times that it’s become a joke between the two of them. And hearing Caitlin’s attempt at mimicking the way he says those words evoke a laugh from her too. It also makes her realise that she hasn’t done that in a while, at least in the past few days. 

Sara settles with a smirk on her face, “I know, but that still doesn’t explain this change in him. This plan doesn’t require all this effort he’s putting into it.”

“I don’t think this has anything to do with the gun shipment,” Caitlin says, placing her coffee on the small table in front of their lounge, “I think this is about him and moving on.”  
“Moving on?”

Snow nods, tucking a leg under her to face Lance, “Moving on from this life and settling down. I think part of him is holding onto this last mission just a bit too tightly, because he knows it’s going to be the last one he ever does.”

It sort of makes sense in Sara’s head, knowing just how much of a control freak Leonard can be sometimes, but it doesn’t answer the big question in Sara’s head. 

“Then why would he suggest the idea of retirement at all?”

Caitlin smiles and points at Sara, “Because of you. Deep down, in his heart, his love for you trumps that of his obsession with making and executing plans. But you have to understand, that Len’s been doing this kind of thing since he was a child. It has been his life for as long as he can remember, and now he’s finally found someone worth giving it all up for. He’s just having a bit of trouble letting it all go.”

The doctor’s words manage to provide a sense of clarity to the confusion surrounding Leonard. The fog clears, and everything makes sense, and Sara curses herself for not figuring it out sooner. She feels like she should have seen it, known that simple plan means so much more to him than it appears, but she had just chalked his behaviour up to irrational fear about the plan.

“Don’t blame yourself for not noticing.” 

Caitlin seems to know that is exactly what Sara is doing, and as far as she’s concerned, she should be blamed for not noticing. He’s her husband, and she should know what is troubling him. 

“I don’t think he’s doing it intentionally,” Caitlin continues, “And there will always be a subconscious part of him that wants to defend his pride by hiding any kind of weakness. Especially from you.” 

“So how did you figure it out?” Sara studies Caitlin’s figure as if it would somehow provide answers.

Caitlin drinks a bit of her coffee before she delves into her explanation. 

She explains that he went through something similar when he came back in 2019. His current uncertainty is reminiscent of the lost feeling he had when didn’t know what to do after discovering everything he had was gone. The only way to help him was to get him back out there, have him coming up with plans, going out on missions and doing what he always does, what he loves. There was no way he was going to give up that life he’s used to, but back then was different, because there wasn’t a special somebody that he was willing to give it all up for. 

Sara never saw that side of Leonard because things were still difficult between the ex-assassin and ex-crook. Caitlin on the other hand, saw every moment of it, and was one of the key people to help him adjust.

“Inside that tough-guy exterior, is someone who’s scared of what’s to come. And fear makes people do irrational things,” Caitlin says, “Talk with him, help him understand that it isn’t something he has to worry about alone.”

Sara turns on the couch and wraps her arms around Caitlin, holding the doctor tightly, “Thank you,” she whispers into her shoulder, “I don’t know where we’d be without you.”

Caitlin rubs her hand warmly against Sara’s back, “You want a sappy answer, with something along the lines of fate or destiny?” she asks with a grin. 

Sara lets out a weak laugh. Tears form at the edges of her eyes and she shuts them tight to try and stop more forming. All the emotions that had built up in the past weeks are finally coming to the surface, unable to stay bottled down any longer. All that concern she had for Leonard’s behaviour, the genuine fear when she got out of the shower and saw he was already gone without her, and now the revelation that he’s been trying to cope with his own fear, that she couldn’t even see.

For minutes, Caitlin just holds Sara silently, whilst the other voice in her head talks. She’s a lot calmer now than she was earlier, and after checking up on him, Frost has lost a bit of that fight. It still amazes Caitlin quite often, just how sensitive and aware Frost can be, especially regarding Len. 

“Is Frost going to be ok?” Sara asks, leaning back from Caitlin and wiping her arm over her eyes. 

Caitlin smiles, “She will be. You love him and make him happy. It’s all she asks you to keep doing.”  
“I will,” Sara returns with a soft smile of her own. 

“Central City is going to miss Captain Cold and the White Canary,” the doctor looks out the high windows of Jitters and out to the street.  
“And Captain Cold and White Canary will miss Central City,” Sara’s gaze joins Caitlin’s outside. 

The pair resume their lunch, with Caitlin shifting into full-on doctor mode. An extensive list on the entire recovery procedure that Leonard would have to go through if he wants to recover as best he can, has already been thought of by the doctor on the way over. She finds a piece of paper and begins jotting down exact instructions for prescriptions, a number they can call for more of the nano-tech supplies, and physical therapy instructions on how to ensure that Leonard’s muscles and bones properly regrow after all the extensive damage that has been caused to them. 

At no surprise to Sara at all, Caitlin begins adding some, additional, instructions. An alternative but still effective set of physical therapy instructions which border on the more erotic side. Sara watches in amusement as the doctor beside her, with an unbreakable look of seriousness and concentration, is writing what looks like a script to the start of a porno. One of the suggestions catches her attention in particular, and Sara makes a mental note to take a closer look at it when she gets the chance.

At the end, when the piece of paper is folded up and handed to Sara, she is truly thankful to Caitlin, and hugs her once again. 

“If anything happens, text me your coordinates and I can use one of the breaching devices to come and help.”  
“Seriously Caitlin,” Sara slumped her shoulders and just looked in awe at the doctor, “I couldn’t have made it through these past seven years without you.”  
“Wait until you’re at a spa in Australia before you thank me,” the doctor mode slinking away behind a grin on Caitlin’s face. 

Caitlin can sometimes be too humble for Sara, never making a big deal out of doing anything to help anyone. But Sara wants to make a big deal out of it now, because this might be her last chance to repay the good doctor for everything she’s done for them all.

“What about a spa right now?” Sara stands up and tugs on Caitlin’s arm

She’s met with a sceptical look.

“I’m serious, come on,” she tugs harder on Caitlin’s arm, dragging the other woman to her feet. 

Even after all these years that have passed, they’re still just about the same height, with Caitlin just mere centimetres taller. Sara’s deadpan serious expression fixates on the doctor. 

“Right now?” 

Sara nods affirmatively, “Absolutely.”

Caitlin’s mouth opens briefly, then shuts with an exhale of air. Pressing her lips together to the side, she shrugs and concedes. 

“Oh, alright.”

XXX

*January 2020 (two days later)*  
It was a devious plan. Slightly traitorous of Caitlin to set it all up, but when it’s for the betterment of her friend and her lover, she thinks the ends justify the means. 

“Is she in there?” Snart whispered as Caitlin approached him.  
“Yes. And why are you whispering?” 

Leonard opens his mouth to respond but then shuts it as he realises that there’s nothing but nerves which have him whispering. The training room is at the end of the corridor, and then through another door, so unless they were shouting loudly, there’s no way for Sara to hear anything intelligible.

“I told her to get warmed up while I check on one of the experiments,” Caitlin busies herself by straightening up the collar of his shirt and patting down the wrinkles in his sleeves, “Now’s your chance. Don’t let her bruise that pretty face of yours too much,” she instructs with a quick kiss. 

He smirks as they brush past each other. Then he stops, his head looking straight ahead before he does a complete 180 and looks back at Caitlin with a frown.

“Hold on,” he lifts a finger in a gesture for her to pause, “Are you saying I can’t win?”

He can see her bite her bottom to lip to prevent herself from laughing, “I think I hear Cisco calling for me. Good luck. Tell me how it goes,” Caitlin says at a speed matching her retreat down the corridor and away from him. 

He rolls his eyes and huffs as he approaches the corner just before the training room, pausing just at the end and pressing himself against the wall. 

Snart takes a deep breath and releases the tension from his body, pushing off the wall a bit to bounce on his toes as he prepares himself. He feels like a high-schooler right now, trying to work up the courage in himself to talk to that pretty girl everyone likes. Obviously, the context of this situation is vastly different, but there’s a similar feeling of anticipation and anxiety about the whole thing he must overcome. 

With one last boost of confidence, he started walking forwards and approaches the entrance to the training room. Mechanical dummies, racks of weapons, a shooting range that went over 40 meters deep and a sparing area, was the result of nine weeks’ worth of effort to setup. Originally just a very large bunker, Nora Allen, himself and Cisco had agreed that since it served no purpose other than just being an empty room, they turn it into something where everyone can train. And not just for Team Flash, but for the other teams if they come to visit as well. 

Thanks to the engineer’s ingenuity and the speedster’s speed, the entire room was converted within three months, with some nifty additions that Leonard thought might be nice to add. 

Sara Lance was walking around in sporting gear, dark and tight shirt and shorts, examining some of the equipment that was organised around the room when Leonard entered. His footsteps loudly echoed around the room to make it seem like he wasn’t sneaking up on her. 

Her head turns to the side first to look at him, with her body rotating to face him too. Blue eyes scan his body up and down like an automated security scanner before settling on his face and giving a small smile. It didn’t look forced, which was a comforting thought for him at least. It was good to know that things were slowly settling between them, more so after the joint Christmas and New Year’s Eve party everyone met up for. 

It hadn’t been exactly awkward, but it was a unique experience, seeing everyone new and old in the one place together. Formal introductions were made between himself and Ava Sharpe, who tried to make a joke about arresting him for blowing up time. In that moment, Sara looked as if her life flashed before eyes, fearing that a fight was going to break out or just a super awkward experience that would have her demanding the Earth to consume her, but instead, Leonard just chuckled and made a joke about them never being able to catch him. 

It was surprising for her, and the whole situation had Sara stunned for minutes after he wished her a late Happy Birthday and wished the pair of them a Happy New Year. She had prepared for every possibility of things going bad, where one of them starts a fight and she needs to defuse the situation. She had not prepared for them to be civilised. 

He didn’t mind Ava, his opinion of her reflecting that similar to Mick’s. At first glance to him, she’s just another government agent, which immediately puts her on the ‘not my people’ list. But he sees how important Sara is to this woman, and Leonard can confidently respect her for that. 

“All of this, was your idea?” Sara spoke whilst turning around, her back to him as she faced the rest of the room.  
He walked up to one of the mechanical dummies behind her, looking past her towards the shooting range area, “Is it up to League of Assassin’s standards?”  
Sara laughed as she turned around, “Only missing the ominous candle-lit chandeliers and a pit that brings people back from the dead.”

“I’ll have Ramon make a note to add that for next time,” Snart drawled, arms crossing over the shoulder of the dummy.  
Sara chuckled and placed her hands on her hips, “I really like it. Makes me wish the Waverider was big enough to fit this kind of stuff on it.”  
“Guess you’re gonna need a bigger boat,” Snart grinned, the joke rolling off his tongue with such ease. 

Sara rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, but she couldn’t do anything about the smirk on her face, “I forgot just how much you and Ray communicated in movie quotes.”

He nods with a soft smile, settling his eyes on one of the racks of weapons. His mind tells him he shouldn’t have said that. If the plan is to get them to start anew without a past between them, it’s probably best they don’t reminisce about the old days. But being with her, just makes it feel so easy to slip back into the way things once were. But he also knows they can’t be that same way again, and it’s why he needs to stay focused on this plan. 

“Step back,” Leonard requested, gesturing for her to move off the large panel in the floor.

He walked over to a console on the wall and pressed a few buttons. The small centre of the floor in the middle of the training area begins shifting down into the ground, sliding away momentarily before returning with a large sparring mattress in its place. The tile rises up and locks into place with a thud, this motion turning the previously empty and dark grey floor into a red mat with white boundary circles. 

“That is-” Sara looked at in awe.

“Impressive?” Sara nods silently in response, walking over to the mat and examining it, “All the different designs are underneath the ground,” Leonard stomped his feet on the floor beneath him, “Cisco designed the mechanism. Select what you want from the monitor and the machine grabs it. There’s a wrestling ring under there too, somewhere.”

Sara looked at him with a humoured smirk as she feels out the mat with her bare feet. 

Leonard walked over to one of the weapon racks and retrieved two light, wooden swords, attracting the assassin’s attention before throwing one over to her. Using his skills in sleight of hand, he retrieves a wooden dagger and tucks it behind him, concealing it with his shirt. 

“You wanna challenge me to a sword fight?” Sara questioned, the expression she gives is a silent offer for him to take back his challenge and stand down. 

But Snart wasn’t going to do that now, was he?

“Affirmative.”

She looks back at him as she walks to one side of the mat, “Did you forget that I’m from the League of Assassin.”

Snart shakes his head and shrugs, “Didn’t forget, just don’t care.”

His cocky tone makes her laugh as she twirls the wooden sword in her hand, doing some slow and wide swings to get a feel for it as Snart approached, “Last chance before I kick your ass,” she points to him sternly, making sure she’s not going to be the one responsible when he almost certainly gets injured.

Snart shrugged as he slid off his shoes, “We’ll see about that,” and he stops at the opposite end of the mat to Lance.

Leonard lazily handled the sword in his hand and watched as Lance began skirting the perimeter of her side before holding the sword in front of him in a defensive stance. He figured that by making it look like he was going to go on the defensive first, that she’d be unprepared for his plan. 

“Three,” Sara bounced on her toes, moving forward from the perimeter as she counted down, a massive grin on her face, “Two-”

Snart jumped the gun, his stance shifting in an instant as he went from defensive to offensive, the sword swinging in a short arc to reduce the time available for the assassin to counter him. It was a cheap move, catching her unprepared, but when your opponent is a League of Assassin’s trained warrior, you do what you can to win. 

Surprise, surprise, it didn’t work as well as he hoped, and within a few seconds she swung his legs out from underneath him. Like a branch being cut from a tree, he falls to the ground with a heavy thud. She twirled the wooden blade in her hand as she looked down at him with a giant grin on her face. 

Sara is mocking him as she places her training sword in the middle of the ring.

Leonard eyes her sceptically, wondering what she’s up to. 

“Keep your weapon,” she instructs, “You need to stop me from getting my weapon and beating you, again.”

She bounces on her toes eagerly as he brings himself to his feat and returns to his side of the mat. 

His spare hand feels for the blade behind his back whilst she begins the countdown, this time actually abiding by it. 

With a surge of energy, Leonard rushes forwards towards the centre of the ring, his longer strides clearing the distance faster than she can. Using the small window of time available to him, he kicks her weapon behind him and takes a swing.

She ducks his swing, closes the gap and extends a jabbing hand at his sword hand’s wrist. The blow causes him to lose grip, the weapon flying off to her left. With quick reflexes, she grabs the hilt of the blade and using the muscles in her legs, begins to push herself up and forwards, ready to lunge at Leonard. 

Something happens however, and Sara’s body freezes mid swing. Her eyes widen as the tip of the wooden dagger is pressed against her chest. Had it been real, and she continued her forward action, she would have impaled herself against it before she could finish her attack.

“You didn’t see that one coming?” Snart drawled as he tapped the wooden blade against her chest before sliding back and giving her space. 

Her body relaxes, and her expression tells him she’s impressed, “Caught me by surprise I must admit, but it won’t work again though. I promise you that,” Sara emphasised by pointing her finger at him as she returned to her side. 

“Only needs to work once to kill you,” he calls out as he picks up Sara’s former blade. 

Sara remains true to her promise as, for the following six rounds, she wins them all flawlessly. They would have kept going, well at least she would have, but Snart called time out. Landing on his ass that many times in quick succession wasn’t agreeing with his ego. 

And despite Caitlin’s wishes, Snart had a slightly bruised face. A noticeable mark on his right cheek where Lance had elbowed him pretty hard after parrying one of his strikes. It was going to sting for a few days, but he figured it was probably worth it.

Currently the two of them were sitting opposite each other, or more accurately Leonard was lying on his back trying to catch his breath while Lance was sitting, with her legs outstretched, rehydrating with a chilled bottle of water. 

“Was this your plan too?” Sara spoke up, eyes focusing on the prone form of Leonard.  
He tilted his head forward, peering at her over his chest, aware of what she is referring to, “Yeah. Needed a chance to get you alone.”

"Well," Sara nods and raises her arms to gesture to the room around them, "we’re alone.”

Leonard groaned as he forced himself to sit up, but when he settled his gaze on her, he turned serious, “I think it goes without saying that there is an issue between us. Since that conversation on the Waverider, we haven’t talked unless it’s absolutely necessary, or it was your birthday. There’s just too much history between us, and every time we look at each other, we’re just reminded of our past and what was lost to time.”

His words strike true, and Sara looks down at the bottle in her hand as she listens intently.

“For you, that’s over three years ago, and for me, that’s just five months ago,” he continues, confident that she’s still paying attention to him by the subtle nods of her head, “And in that time, we’ve become completely different to who we remember each other as. You’re no longer just some lost assassin who had a bad case of the bloodlust. You’re the captain of the Waverider, saviour of time on numerous occasions, fought magical creatures and helped stop both an alien and Nazi invasion.

“And me,” Leonard gestures to himself with a small flick of his hand and lets out a heavy sigh, “Well I’m not the same thief who’d just gotten out of prison for icing his own father.”

“What are you saying?” she studies him with curiosity, but behind the veil of blue, he can see the gears in her head turning as she forms guesses as to what he’s intending. 

“I’m saying that we start over,” Snart spoke seriously, “As if we were meeting on the Waverider again for the first time.”

Memories flash through her mind a million times a second. She remembers everything about that first experience on the Waverider. Every mission, every challenge, every interaction, in particular with the thief. And part of her understands that for his suggestion to work, they must put all of that aside.

“But this time without me staring at your ass,” Leonard adds. 

Sara huffs and nods her head, “So we start again? See where this goes?”  
“That’s the idea,” he lifts a thumb in response, “What do you say?”

Sara stood up and walked over to Snart, a hand extending down to him and helping him up. His hand gripped her wrist as she pulled him up to his feet. 

“Ok, new beginnings,” Sara held out her hand in front of her, “My name is Sara Lance, Captain of the Waverider.”  
Snart looked down at her hand and smirked, extending his own and shaking hers, “Leonard Snart, umm,” he pauses as he thinks for a moment, then finds a response, “Head renovator of S.T.A.R. Labs.”

Sara burst out into laughter, taking a few moments to settle herself down enough to reply without messing up her words, “Well Mr Snart, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”

To new beginnings.

XXX

*August 2026 (the evening after the lunch)

“Len?”

Her voice didn’t register in his head. Only the blueprints sitting on the table in front of him, his gadgets and the plan on how to take down this entire getup was on his mind. 

“Len?”

Her hand gently rested on his shoulder, and she felt him jump in his seat at the dining table. His head snapped to look at her, shock in his eyes which he hastily tried to calm down, but it was too late, and she’d seen a bit of the weakness he was trying so desperately to hide. 

“Sorry,” Snart’s hand reached to his shoulder and he gently rubbed her hand with his, “I was just going over the plans.”  
“When was the last time you ate?” Sara discretely eyes the lack of additional dishes in the sink this morning, and concern starts to form.  
He looked at her dumbfoundedly, wondering why she was asking that question, “Breakfast was a few hours ago, and I was going to have lunch soon.”

Those two sentences almost break Sara, because breakfast was over 11 hours ago, which means not only is he losing track of so much time, he also hasn’t eaten since before the bath. Caitlin’s words seemed truer than ever in this moment. The obsession he has over these plans are tearing him apart, and she needs to stop it from destroying him even further.

It hadn’t gotten this bad before, and guilt swells up inside her as she realises that whilst she was having a spa treatment with Caitlin, she hadn’t been here to look after Leonard, even if he didn’t realise he needed it.

“What’s changed?” Sara asks, folding her arms across her chest.

Leonard looks up at her with tired and confused eyes, briefly stunned by the sudden change in tone and topic, “Huh?”

She stands firmly and gestures with a nod of her head towards the plans in front of him, “What’s changed? Has anything about this plan changed since the night we decided on it?” 

“Uh,” Leonard looks at the plans briefly and she can see that his tiredness and hunger is making it difficult for him to focus on the papers, “No,” he says softly, turning his head back towards her, “I don’t think so.”

Sara nods, “So why keep looking at it?”

He looks defeated, exhausted, and yet he emotionally clings onto these pieces of paper as if they’re his life-line that he feels like he’s losing grip of. 

She asks him because she needs to know if Caitlin is right about this being entirely subconscious to him, because even she can’t believe that Leonard would do this intentionally, given the circumstances. 

But his expression is lost, and tired, and that last reason is why Sara withdraws her question. She decides that now is not the right time, and figures that his exhaustion should be dealt with first before they tackle this much-needed conversation. 

“Forget it. Come on, you need to eat and get some rest,” she pulls on his arm and tries to encourage him to stand. 

He looks like he wants to argue, assure her that he’s fine, but seconds later a loud yawn is escaping his mouth and he ducks his head when she raises a challenging eyebrow. She helps him to his feet, the braces around his legs taking most of his weight off the bone itself, the rest being shifted onto Sara’s shoulders as she walks him over to their bedroom. 

“I missed lunch, didn’t I?” his voice is barely a whisper, cracking faintly in his coarse and dry throat.

She only nods as they approach the bed. 

Slowly and with a needed gentleness, she helps him get into bed and proceeds to remove the braces around his legs. Her eyes look up briefly to see the broken ones looking off in the distance, a mixture of anger and frustration all directed internally, and she has to look away to stop the tears forming. 

His face alone answers one of her questions, and she’s relieved to figure out that it’s all subconscious and he’s not purposely inflicting all this pain and suffering on himself deliberately. Now she just has to wait until he’s in a better state of mind before she can try helping him cope with it. She has to see Ava in the Time Bureau tomorrow, and she decides that getting him out of the apartment will do him good. After that, they can talk. 

“Think you can stay awake long enough to eat something?” she asks as he props himself up against the bed’s headboard.

His jaw is clenched firmly as he nods, his eyes remaining focused off in the distance. 

Sara lets her hand trail down his arm slowly before she walks off and gets him a drink and something to eat before returning to him. She hands it out tentatively to him, and he takes it with a small nod in her direction. 

She curls up in the bed beside him, her hand resting on his extended leg while he eats on the bar. It’s something Caitlin had suggested would help with the recovery, and Sara figures there is probably no better time than now to take it. 

It’s almost entirely silent while Leonard eats, and Sara lies beside him. When he’s done and lies down himself, her hand squeezes his and their heads turn to face each other. 

“Thank you,” his lips press up to her forehead before he shifts back and his eyes shut. 

Within minutes, he falls asleep and Sara watches his chest shakily rise and fall, her heart aching at imagining the pain his injured ribs and lungs are causing to him. It’s too late to stop the tears now, and she holds him tightly as she puts herself to sleep too. 

She tells herself they’ll get through this together. She won’t accept any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should make it clear that Leonard is my favourite character in the Arrowverse, but I don't blame you if you thought otherwise based on how this story is treating him. I'd say that I don't like putting him through these difficult scenarios, but I have another WIP I've been playing with for over two years and that's another rollercoaster of emotions and pain for him in that too. But trust me, I do love him.
> 
> I'm also busy for the next few days, so I probably won't upload until Tuesday at the earliest. And I'm still trying to decide whether to combine the next two small(ish) chapters into a larger combined chapter, or just keep them separate. If you prefer smaller or larger chapters, let me know. 
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonard and Caitlin have an interesting dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's me, your friendly neighbourhood... you know. 
> 
> Chapter 5 is here. Not meant to be as dark as the other chapters, just a bit of fun and world building 
> 
> Thank you for the comments, everyone. I'm glad you're still enjoying it.

*March 2020*

“You’re staring,” Caitlin says as her eyes meet Leonard’s in the reflection.  
The hungry look in his eyes turns into a humoured expression when he realises he’s been caught, “I can’t help myself.”

Caitlin finishes applying the last of her makeup and runs a hand down her hair to loosen it. Her dress was a fine dark blue that trailed down past her knees and stopped just above her ankles. It had a deep V cut that was frustratingly capturing Leonard’s attention every couple of moments. The soft mesh of the sleeves covered down past her shoulders to just beyond her elbows, showing off the impressive muscles gained by the frosty meta-human.

“You’re going to have to for tonight,” Caitlin turns around and faces him, “This was your idea after all.”

He rocks his outfit quite well. The navy-blue suit jacket looks nice over the light blue undershirt, and the dark tie with faint stripes adds the final necessary touch to complete it. Suits haven’t been part of Leonard’s attire for years, even before he was on the Waverider, so having to get himself fitted for one was an interesting experience. 

She lets her finger linger on his shoulder as she brushes past him to grab her phone and purse from the other room. His head turns before the rest of his body, tracking her as she moves across the room. 

He clicks his tongue in frustration, “I am painfully aware,” his drawl making it sound more dramatic than it really is. 

Over the past few months, Leonard had been keeping an observant eye on the situation with the criminal underground in Central City and the neighbouring regions. There was less structure than when he left, gangs and organisations being a bit more chaotic in some areas, especially the run-down suburbs.

Snart had narrowed things down to about eight leaders. Top dogs in the food chain, all with a sizeable chunk of influence in the underground. There was an old Chinese woman who ran a particularly deadly and professional group of Triads in the China Town district, which were having some squabbles with the gang running imports in the Central City harbour across the water. He’d seen these types of problems before, the harbour group wants to put a tax on Triad’s imports and the Triads don’t want to pay the ludicrous price. 

According to Barry and Joe, there had been a few killings on either side as part of this dispute, and the last thing Leonard wanted was an all-out gang war in his city. 

But those two parties weren’t the only ones he was hoping to reign in. Three of the eight leaders were drug kings, supplying their stock all across the city and over multiple states in the country. Now Leonard might not be able to control what happens outside of their state, but he can control what’s in it. He’s a criminal himself, or at least he was, and therefore he understands the unsavoury necessity for drug smuggling. He’s a not fan of the product, but he’ll allow it under certain conditions. Conditions that prohibit selling to school kids, individuals who should be allowed to avoid the ugliness of the criminal underground for another couple years.

Kids have always been a touchy subject for Snart, and as Caitlin pointed out to him, he’s exhibiting a bit of psychological projection on this topic. His own childhood experiences have definitely influenced his tolerance for this kind of criminal activity. Leonard’s hoping that he can sort out some way of negotiating with them to cover the losses, or at least provide them with some incentive to refrain from supplying to school children. 

Then the last three leaders are ones distributing weapons in the city. Leonard is more tolerable of this economic market than the others, but it’s also probably the most important market to keep in check. It makes up a large part of the underground economy, and if something screws it up, chaos erupts between gangs and there would be slaughter and riots among the streets as gangs unleash their anger out on each other, and unfortunately the innocent.

Leonard had to come up with a plan. One that would allow him to meet with all of the leaders and broker some kind of arrangement to ensure peace remains intact. 

So, he decided on dinner. Over the past week and a bit, he’d reached out to these eight individuals and invited them to dinner at a fancy restaurant where he knew the owner owed him a favour. The rules were simple: you bring yourself unarmed, but you may have one or two bodyguards with a handgun at most. There was no way these bosses were coming unarmed or undefended, but he wants to limit the weapons present at the dinner as a precaution in case things get ugly.

Snow and Frost was going to be his two-in-one bodyguard, who would be joining him at the table. Since he’d be sitting down having dinner, without a weapon of his own, he’ll be vulnerable, and having a meta-human with incredibly powerful ice abilities was more effective than his old cold gun anyway. 

He’s getting a bit jealous actually, being so outperformed by his lover. Whilst her name may match the element, he still feels a need to hold that cold power for himself, and not just in the form of the prototype cold gun that works only half the time. Cisco refuses to upgrade it or build a new one, and surprisingly withstands all of Leonard’s intimidation tactics. Yet something tells the icy thief that Cisco hasn’t abandoned the idea, but is considering something more impressive and different. 

Caitlin picks up her phone and purse and holds it in her hand. 

Leonard pushes himself out of the doorway to their bedroom and joins her by the table, extending an elbow towards her as he falls by her side, “Shall we?”

She holds her finger up in a pausing gesture, then proceeds to fix up the back of his collar and straighten out one of his sleeves.

The doctor smirks and slinks her arm through the gap between his elbow and hooks her arm around his, “We shall.”

The pair exit the apartment and enter Caitlin’s car. It’s not the little two-door vehicle she had that Snart froze and abducted her from all those years ago. Frost absolutely refused to be caught dead in that little thing and demanded something with a bit more oomph. Caitlin sometimes still wonders how she let Frost convince her to get a 2018 Ford Mustang, but she’s long past complaining about it now. Especially since Leonard enjoys it as well, evident by the grin that always forms on his face when he pulls them out onto the city streets and he presses his foot down just a bit too much. 

Without breaking any laws on their drive over, Leonard parks the car a few blocks away and gives them a chance to walk in the pleasantly cool night breeze. He figured that it’s probably not a good idea to be arrested for speeding before attending a dinner as important as this one. 

They’re the first to arrive, with none of the other guests expected to arrive for a while, as per the plan. He wants to make sure everything is perfect before things get started, even down to the silverware on the table.

Things could either go really well and he’d manage to stop a gang war before it happens, reduce a drug crisis in schools, and hopefully keep the firearm distribution in check. Or it could go really poorly and tonight could result in him living with a bounty on his head while gang wars and other violent crimes break out across Central City. 

No pressure. 

For some reason he was feeling more confident about tonight than when he tried to approach Lance in the training room a few months ago. Damn nerves. He couldn’t afford to have nerves though in this situation. He needed to stay focused and controlled, ensuring that the cold personality he’s so well known for is present once more. 

It’s been a while since he’s had to act like a criminal. Sure, stealing a wallet each week is just him exercising his hands and making sure he doesn’t lose his touch, but he hasn’t done anything criminalistic by his normal standards. Sitting down with eight other criminal leaders to discuss the criminal underground, well it’s a pretty big hurdle to re-enter the industry. 

The sign on the door said the place was closed, but once Leonard knocked on the glass entrance and a waiter recognised his face, the couple were allowed through. 

The reception area was lavish, with a decorative chandelier hanging from the ceiling leading up to the counter. Nobody was currently stationed there due to tonight’s event, so the waiter led them straight past it and around the corner to the right. Dozens of tables were scattered in an efficient pattern, allowing for comfortable movement across the floor for the waitstaff and guests. 

But the main area wasn’t where tonight’s meeting was going to take place. No. Tonight deserved the special VIP area. The waiter continued to guide them to a back room, opening the door for them and allowing them to proceed. 

Inside was a large rectangular table, one seat wide and four seats long. The floor space was large, with sizeable gaps between the walls and the table in the middle. A large hole in the wall was actually a direct viewing point for the guests to witness their meals being cooked, and like the rest of the restaurant itself, the kitchen itself was expensive and Leonard and Caitlin could see the half dozen chefs already working on the meal. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Caitlin glaring at him through squinted eyes. 

“What?” his voice tentative as he tries to figure out if he’s done something wrong.

“You never take me out to dinners this fancy,” Caitlin pouts, nudging his shoulder softly, “All I get is your home cooked meals.”

Leonard recoils back and looks at her with a slightly offended expression, “Hey, you said you love my cooking.”

It was one of the things that he actively tried to constantly improve on ever since the doctor and her meta counter-part had offered him residence in their apartment. It was his way of saying thank you for everything.

“I do, but there’s just something about major criminals getting special treatment from you,” Caitlin whined as she crossed her arms.

“You’re here aren’t you?”

Caitlin rolls her eyes and a grin forms on her face as she playfully nudged him again, “So you’ll only take a girl out to dinner if it’s for important criminal business.”

Snart presses his lips and sighs, “I think you’re focusing too much on the criminal aspect and not enough on the fact that I am taking you to dinner, let alone an event of such importance as this one. Besides, it’s not every day that you get to sit at the same table as eight major criminals.”

“Nine,” Caitlin corrected.  
Leonard shrugs with a smirk, “I try to be humble.”

Caitlin’s shoulders slump downwards as she concedes, “Ok fine. But I still think it would be nice for us to do more of this kind of thing. Without the whole criminal aspect.”  
Leonard nods and places a hand on the small of her back, “Well I will certainly see what I can do to make that a reality.”

With his hand on her back, he guides them towards the far corner of the room where lounge chairs are positioned against the walls. Once she’s seated and he gets her something to drink, he excuses himself to talk with the owner and make some final checks on the event.

Whilst he was doing that, Caitlin was taking mental note of the environment. She was meant to be his bodyguard after all, and part of that role included being able to identify any possible threats to his safety and how best to handle the situation if things turn to shit. There are enough reflective surfaces in this room that she could sit at most positions at the table and still be able to keep everyone within an easily observable field of view. 

He returns a few minutes with a drink of his own and another for her. They sit close together on the lounge, shoulders pressed against each other, in silence. 

It’s just them for the next half hour, listening and watching the organised chaos going on in the kitchen nearby, whilst they wait for the other dinner guests. The leader of the Triads is the first to arrive, with her two bodyguards in dark black suits. She herself was in a beautiful, flowery dress with a pearl necklace. 

Leonard rises from his seat and approaches the woman. 

“Oh Mr Snart,” she calls out as soon as she spots him approaching, “How lovely it is to see you. Don’t you look absolutely charming?”  
“Xièxie” a response which elicits a proud and warm smile from the older lady, “It’s good to see you too Ms Zung.”  
She grabs his hand and holds it tightly in hers, “I mourned when I believed you to be dead, my dear. But I should have known that you would come back.”

He smiles down at her, “I had to disappear for a long time, and there were moments where I thought I might die, almost had, but I’m glad to be back home. How are you?”

Zung and Snart have a history. One that started when Leonard was in his early-teens and struggling to get by himself and look after Lisa at the same time. With his day to day life consisting of stealing food to keep himself fed, there was always the risk that he would steal from the wrong person. 

Ms Zung, an officer of the Triads back then, was that wrong person, and when she caught him trying to steal some fruit from her store, Snart had nearly had his fingers cut off that day. Had it not been for Snart’s natural charm and sassy sense of humour that impressed the woman, his thieving days would have over then and there. 

Since then, he comes around irregularly to have dinner with the older woman. Sometimes he brings gifts from a heist of his, typically consisting of Chinese antiquities that he thinks she might find decorative for her apartment. This kind of relationship and exchanging of gifts is one of the lessons Leonard has learnt over the years: a gift can be immeasurably more valuable than its cold, hard cash value. 

It was another few minutes before the next guest arrived, one of the drug kings, and from then on, Leonard’s introductions became a lot more formal, the Captain Cold persona resurfacing and interacting in the usual sassy, but still respect deserving way. 

Caitlin was a bit impressed at witnessing Leonard’s interactions with these hardened criminals. He was like an entirely different person, and physical appearances aside, she could not compare him to the same man who would laugh and pulls pranks with Nora against her father. It was an interesting experience to witness this side of him, the side he once was all those years ago, and it was nice to know that a bit of him was enjoying this old familiarity too.

All the dinner guests eventually arrived in the next half hour, five men and three women, not including Snart and herself of course. To say that it was nice and calm would be untrue, but it also wasn’t on the brink of exploding. It was somewhere along the middle, where there are obvious tensions and underlying conflicts between some of the guests, but a desire not to let things escalate just yet. 

Caitlin sees this entire dinner as one of her more, risky, experiments. Every person in here is a different chemical, some volatile by nature, and others more reactionary. Mix these different chemicals in the right quantities and sequence, and you’ll get something beautiful and revolutionary. But accidentally let the wrong two chemicals touch in the wrong quantity, and everything after that continues to taint the compound, deviating it from its intended form, eventually going past the point of no return and it blows up in your face. 

Anything that can be done to mitigate the chance of a metaphorical explosion from happening has been taken, which includes Snart’s insistence that they wait to discuss arrangement and negotiations until after everyone is fed. Caitlin thought it to be quite clever, satisfying everyone’s hunger and thirst before delving into the messy topics. If the dinner is good enough, it will lift the moods of some of the more reluctant and defensive guests. 

There was also another socially manipulative technique that Leonard had orchestrated, something he mentioned to Caitlin earlier in the day. Glasses of water are a secret weapon in all meetings and negotiations. At a dinner of this calibre, with such powerful and important people of the criminal underground present, nobody is going to want to admit to needing the bathroom after drinking water. They’ll accept a shitty deal before risking their pride any day of the century.

With a gesture to the waitstaff, Leonard summoned the food and drinks to the table. Plates and dishes were brought out in masses and spread among the guests. 

Caitlin sat next to Snart, a matter that attracted attention her way from the other guests and guards. Some were intrigued by her presence, Ms Zung commenting on her dress, whilst others were cautious and weary. Either way, she was an unknown variable to them, so she expected the looks. 

Bodyguards were stationed around the room, some sitting on the lounge chair in the corner, eating food that had been brought over to them. Others were standing near the door and prepared to extract their boss when necessary. And like their bosses, their attentions were frequently on Caitlin, with the added reason for her being the hottest person in the room.

The food was good too. Like really good. And based on the faces and posture of everyone else at the table, they were as pleased about the meal as Caitlin was. She had to stop herself from smirking at her date beside her, because she was damn impressed with just how well he’d planned this evening.

And with everyone now well fed and continuing to sip away at their drinks, the business talk was finally brought up. Leonard wanted to start with solving the dispute between the Triads and the gang running the docks. They wanted to put a tax on all imports, 40% of the value of everything being imported goes to them, which even Snart thought was far too much. They tried to argue that CCPD was cracking down on them and that the profit made from the tax would ensure police evasion, but Leonard had already heard the CCPD’s status from Allen and West, and the only reason they were getting close was the fault of the chaos arising from this conflict. 

But simple reasoning and logic alone was not going to put this dispute to rest. No. Leonard needed to find something to convince the gang to reduce the tax and make everyone happy. Fortunately, he remembered that the leader had a thing for one-of-a-kind paintings, on the more erotic side of the practice, and there just so happened to be a painting exhibition coming into Central City in two and a half weeks. 

Coming to an agreement was quite simple from there on out. Snart made a promise that he will procure the painting for the gang’s leader, if they reduce the tax to an appropriate amount. With a bit of back and forth between the two gangs, and some mediating from Leonard, a deal was struck, and the dispute was resolved, as long as Leonard gets the painting.

Trying to find something for the drug kings was a bit harder. Snart couldn’t exactly just threaten them to stop supply stuff, but fortunately, Caitlin had a better idea. Since her time with Amunet Black and being involved in her criminal enterprise, Caitlin had seen first hand the kind of drugs that were supplied around the city. She had even swiped some to perform experiments, learning what they were composed of and how to alter them. Being the brilliant bio-engineer she is, Caitlin had developed some alternative mixtures which lessen the side-effects that come from withdrawal or regular consumption, while improving the high they provide.

Caitlin requested a scrap piece of paper from one of the waitstaff, along with a pen, and when handed to her, she began writing out her altered chemical compound. Snart had strict conditions regarding this piece of paper. A stronger high and lesser side effects mean they can charge more money, and have longer lasting clients, but they would have to cut kids out of the supply. It was clear that there was an underlying threat hidden away, and deep down, none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of Captain Cold’s wrath. Graciously, they accepted the piece of paper from Caitlin and agreed to Leonard’s terms. 

As Snart dealt with the gun suppliers, Caitlin pulled out her phone and began texting.

Caitlin: So, how’s your date?

It was half a minute later when Sara returned with a photo of her pretending to be asleep in a chair while Ava sat at her desk doing paperwork for the Time Bureau.

Sara: Ava’s definition of 'date' ranges between taking me to see the construction of the Eifel Tower, or watching her do paperwork.  
Caitlin: Romantic.

Sara: Watchu doing? Wally told me you were going out 2 dinner or something  
Caitlin: Something like that :P  
Sara: Oooooooo, r u on a date ;)  
Caitlin: Only with 9 of the biggest criminals in all of Central City :D

Sara: …  
Sara: Seriously?

Snart looked over to her and saw Caitlin’s phone light up on her lap. A shrug was all he got when gave a curious look, but he wasn’t going to press the matter, and returned his focus back on coming to an agreeance with the gun suppliers.

Caitlin: Deadly.  
Sara: Undercover mission???  
Caitlin: Nope. Just an important dinner to negotiate with criminals.  
Sara: Ur lying. Prove it

Caitlin frowned, and she had to contemplate whether to amuse Sara by potentially getting caught taking pictures of dangerous criminals, or try to find another way. But Frost’s voice in her head was telling her to take the risk just so they could imagine Sara freaking out in Ava’s office.

The tip of her phone peaked above the table top and she discretely angled it to only just catch the face of Ms Zung. Caitlin doubled and tripled checked to make sure the flash function was disabled, then tapped the button on her screen and sent it over to Sara.

For a minute, Caitlin watched her phone say the photo had been seen while waiting for Sara to respond. She pictured the captain just staring at the photo in disbelief, or showing Ava and trying to confirm whether it was real or not. 

A reply was eventually given. 

Sara: WTF!? UR having dinner with the dragon head of the Triads?  
Caitlin: I know. She’s a lovely lady, for someone with a novel-sized kill count.  
Caitlin: She said I look very pretty in this blue dress I’m wearing <3  
Sara: I bet ;) Now u gotta give me names sister.

Caitlin looked at the other guests, she knew most of their names but there were two she couldn’t remember the name of, so she just gave a brief description of them. 

Sara was definitely shocked, and impressed, when she read the names on Caitlin’s text. But she realised that it only contained eight individuals and was missing the ninth. Sara’s curiosity demanded answers. 

Caitlin’s eyes darted over to her partner who was still negotiating.

Caitlin: He’s sorta like them. Likes to pretend he’s a cold-hearted criminal, but really he’s just all fluff.  
Sara: Huh?  
Caitlin: He also makes terrible cold puns.

Sara: No way… No! What!?

Caitlin’s phone began buzzing, and Sara’s icon with a call symbol appeared in the centre of her screen. The buzzing noise attracted the attention of some of the other guests and she tried to apologise as she swiped to ignore the call. Unfortunately, Lance was persistent, and she tried three more times. 

Caitlin: Stop calling me!  
Sara: Are you on a date with Leonard!?  
Caitlin: Technically I’m meant to be his bodyguard for the dinner but yes.  
Sara: You 2 are actually dating?  
Caitlin: Yep.

Sara didn’t reply for another half minute, and in that time, Caitlin thought she might have broken the captain. But, a reply did come through.

Sara: How long!?  
Caitlin: Almost 3 months  
Sara: ‼‼‼  
Caitlin: Surprise xD

It was at this point when tensions started rising between two of the gun suppliers. 

The third gun supplier had already agreed to the terms of the negotiations, but the other two weren’t having it. 

“Come on,” the third guy growls, “Just take the fucking deal pal.”

Caitlin could see his restlessness evident by the jittering leg, his body looking eager to get up and leave in a hurry. She had to refrain herself from laughing when she realised he was one of the people who had drunk plenty of water during the dinner. 

His words seemed to have little effect, and the bosses continued squabbling with each other. Something about a border dispute that Caitlin was quite paying full attention to. Their associated bodyguards began sliding their hands towards their holsters, and that’s when Caitlin did start paying more attention. 

In the meantime, Sara had continued sending questions to the doctor, a text message interrogation of sorts. All of which were ignored as Caitlin decided whether she was going to be needed to defuse the situation. 

It wasn’t too much longer before her presence was needed.

Caitlin: Sorry, Frost needs to come out and teach some of these people table manners.

“Alright boys,” Caitlin’s hands started radiating a cool mist, “I think you need to cool off.”

XXX

After dinner, Caitlin and Snart walked around the block a few times before heading back to the car. 

“Well that went relatively well," Leonard drawled as his arm was linked with hers. 

Caitlin looked down at her hand where she’d grabbed the two gang leaders and chilled their arms until they calmed down, “The ice messed with my nails,” she replied, her tone pretending that it was a much bigger deal than it actually was. 

“Who were you texting?” Snart asked curiously.  
“Just Sara. She was on a ‘date’ with Ava,” Caitlin emphasised, “I may have told her about us.”

Snart’s eyebrows raised but other than that he didn’t seem fazed, “So she knows? What did she say?”

“More like what hasn’t she said,” Caitlin pulled out her phone and showed the 72 notifications and 12 missed calls, “Hey, since you need to steal that painting, why don’t you bring Sara along. It’ll be your first mission together again.”

Snart hummed in response, mouth twisting as he contemplated how the plan would work in his head. It would be good to have someone as nimble as her for the heist. His first idea was to wait until the painting was actually in the exhibition, but with her, he could have a bit more of a challenge and try to steal it from the high-security facility beforehand, potentially making the gang running the docks even happier. It’s a win-win. 

“You know,” Snart looked at the doctor beside him with an impressed smirk, “You would have made a wonderful Rogue in another life.”  
“And you could still make a wonderful hero in this one,” she playfully nudged him with her arm.  
“Yeah, yeah,” Snart grinned as he exaggerated an eye roll, “I might believe that if I wasn’t planning on stealing a painting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> CaptainCanary returns next chapter, with some mentions of AvaLance.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another chapter. 
> 
> Here is chapter six. I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> This was originally meant to be a fun chapter, sorta like the last one, but I've really gone and thrown away that idea.

*present day (the following morning)*

It came as a great relief for Sara to find Leonard still fast asleep beside her. Laying next to him, her hand gently trailing up his arm, anchored her thoughts to the reality that he was still here with her. With her conscious satisfied of his presence, her thoughts moved onto the matters of today as she looked at the clock. Her brain is too tired to come up with the exact remaining time until their mission, but she knows it’s the day after tomorrow. 

With a tired sigh, she gets herself out of the bed and saunters into the bathroom. The door closes behind her with a gentle click and she turns to face the cabinet mirror, her reflection staring right back at her. Like her partner, age is catching up to her too. 

Sara couldn’t really tell how old she was when she boarded the Waverider for the first time. She had died at age 29, and her body rotted away in a grave for about a year. But the Lazarus pit had altered her physiology a bit during the resurrection, so it wasn’t exactly clear whether she gained back those years, or lost them. And then to make it even harder for her to figure out, she got stranded in the ’50s with Ray and Kendra for over two years. 

All those missions, after defeating Savage, dealing with the mess the Time Masters had left behind in their tyrannical wake, ranged from short fix-its, to multi-week insertions to ensure events happened the way they should. She knew that each mission was adding time to her biological clock, but as to how much, she was unsure. Then Rip Hunter decided to Time Scatter them, and Sara’s not sure how long she was in Salem for. She thinks it was a year or maybe a half. Either way, that makes her at least three years older than she should have been at that point.

More missions in different time periods would only continue to throw off her guess on her age. Like her time being dead, she’s a bit iffy on whether Doom World counts. Magic and reality shifting can be complicated things, especially when it was a different version of her that experienced it, then died. She tries not to include it, but she’s unsure. 

Sara can also remember every fucking minute of those six dreadfully long months where she worked at that shitty shower shop place. After that, she stopped giving a damn at trying to guess how old she was. All that she can say, is that by the time they solved the magical Neron crisis with John Constantine, she was closer to 40 than she would have liked. 

She was weathered, to say the least. More so now after these seven years with Leonard in Central City. Sara enjoys her birthday, even if it is on Christmas and usually overshadowed by the chaos that is the Christmas season. But it has long since lost the meaning of signifying her age, and she solely uses it as an excuse for receiving presents and getting herself drunk and having fun. 

And yet, even after all that timey-wimey crap she’s been through and the fact he didn’t age for three whole years, Sara remains years younger than Leonard himself, which only makes her realise just how old he was when they first met.

Her prime is coming to an end, and although she’s confident she could continue for at least another year or two, she’s glad it’s coming it an end now rather than later. Because she doesn’t think Leonard could last that long in his current physical condition, especially not with how brutal enemies are becoming.

Sara pulls herself out of her reverie and strips down before entering the shower. Hot water blasts onto her skin, waking her up and shaking the grogginess away. As much as she feels guilty for having that spa yesterday, her body is thankful for the relaxation and treatment it got. 

Leonard is still fast asleep by the time she exits the shower, dries herself off and gets into a new change of clothes. 

She goes over to the kitchen table, gets herself something to eat and begins reading through Leonard’s plans for this mission. She knows it off by heart, but she wouldn’t put it past Leonard’s exhausted mental state to have changed something and not realised the error. Once she finishes reading, satisfied that the plan has indeed remained the same, she hides it. 

All of it. Hidden. 

It’s for his own good. 

It was about nine in the morning when he finally stirred awake and another few minutes before he exited the bedroom. With his braced legs, he hobbles towards the kitchen, stopping to kiss her briefly before continuing to the fridge and getting himself something to eat. 

“Be quick,” she ushered, “Got to see Ava in half an hour.”

He pauses, then dramatically turns slowly, holding a bowl of cereal in one hand with a spoon inches from his mouth. His face tells a silent plea, as if begging her to finish that sentence with, ‘just kidding,’ but she doesn’t. 

“I… have to look… at the-” Leonard gestures to the table where the plans once were, stopping again and frowning in confusion when he doesn’t see them, “plans?” He looks at her with tired eyes, “Did you?”

Sara nods, “You don’t need them today.”

“Yes I do,” he looks at her as if she said something crazy, “I have to make sure they’re-”

“No,” Sara interrupts, “you don’t. You and I need to talk about what’s happened to you. Losing track of time? Not eating? It’s not good Leonard, and you know you how important it is for your body to heal.”

She sees him tense, the muscles in his arms clench and his knuckles go white as he tightens his grip around the spoon. 

“But first,” Sara adds, “Time Bureau. Half an hour. You’re coming with me.”

Leonard sulks, shoving the spoon in his mouth and mumbles something which Sara is pretty sure was a sex joke. Tensions rise in the apartment, a combination of taking away his plans, pointing out his recent behaviour, and the sternness at which she informs him they are going to talk about all of it. 

For the next twenty minutes, while he gets himself ready and showered, he keeps a visible distance from her. 

She puts up with it, having expected this kind of response. They are going to have this conversation, whether he likes or it not, because she needs him to understand what’s happening to him. 

He slides on a pair of long jeans over his braced legs, trying to avoid showing any signs of weakness, but they both know that his gait alone would tip off anyone who cared to notice. 

Sara waits for him to join her in the usually locked room in their apartment. It’s mostly empty here, a small two-and-a-half by two-and-a-half-meter room that serves only one purpose. He takes his time, disappearing into their room for a minute before returning in his large jacket which has a dozen pockets by Sara’s count. 

Her hand reaches out to the panel embedded into the wall and selects a location. Moments later, the transporter gate starts whirring with power before something of a mixture between a breach and courier doorway, appears in front of them. One hand holds her bag of things she needs to hand in, and the other reaches out to him. His hand reaches out to join hers, and with a small squeeze, she leads them through the gateway. 

It’s busy on the other side, as expected. The Time Bureau always has something to pass the time with, pun intended. With the organisation growing larger, and more employees using transportation devices, an entire section of the underground facility was devoted to the transportation room to reduce congestion and the occasional portal accident that used to happen. The latter issue being quite nasty in some circumstances. 

Sara leads them easily through the crowd, straight to one of the elevators where a few other employees talking in a group had entered. Everyone inside paused as Leonard and Sara stepped in after them, eyes wide in shock as they realised who they were in company with. 

Snart let out a humoured huff but kept his eyes front, pretending to ignore the faint whispers behind him. Sara was too, and the corner of mouth curled upwards as she heard her name mentioned. 

The 40th floor was their destination. CIC used to be 27th but had to be changed in the last two years when the research labs through floors 20 to 26 wanted to expand. 

With a small ding, the elevator door opened, and they stepped out into the corridor. They had just taken in their surroundings when a familiar voice appeared from behind them. Not many people can sneak up on Sara, and usually she’s so aware of people’s presence around her, but this one individual, always seems to surprise her. Leonard swears the guy has some powerful magic but is just too oblivious to realise. 

“Oh, my, god!” Gary’s voice squealed with delight, “Ms Lance, it is so good to see you again!”  
“Hello Gary,” Sara turned around after her little jump and faced the ecstatic assistant director.

Snart made a little cough to grab Gary’s attention and then rubbed his thumb to the side of his mouth as if wiping away something. Gary took the hint from Snart’s gesture and immediately rubbed that same spot on his own face, beaming a wide smile at him. Snart gave the assistant director a thumbs up with a firm nod. 

Sara hissed and lightly slapped Leonard’s arm, mumbling something about being nice and not messing with Gary. 

As it turned out, there was sauce all over Gary’s mouth, and the only spot that Leonard had gestured to, was where there was none. 

“We’re here to see Ava, is she busy?” Sara kept squinted eyes on Leonard who was looking smug.

She had already booked the meeting with Ava, but she understands the busyness and requirements that come with being director, so allocated time slots may not always work out as planned. 

Gary quickly pulled out his tablet and tapped the screen a few times, “According to her schedule, she should be finishing a phone call very soon, but she might be running over time if something has gone wrong. It’s very important to the director,” he shudders, “She usually doesn’t get this mad. Anyway,” like a flip of a switch, that fear turns into a big grin, “would you like me to take you to her?”

“No thanks Gary,” Sara gave him a nice smile and placed her arm on the eager man. She turned them towards the bathroom, “We’ll be fine. Now you better clean yourself up.”

Gary looked at her puzzled and pointed a finger in Snart’s direction, “But? He did the-”  
Sara looked at him with a serious expression on her face, “Trust me, Gary, you missed a bit.”

Hesitantly, Gary nodded and headed off in the directions of the bathroom, while Sara turned back to Leonard and crossed her arms. 

“He makes it so easy sometimes,” Leonard smirks, looking down at the feisty woman in front of him. 

Sara rolls her eyes and leads the way to Ava’s office. 

As Gary suspected, she wasn’t done with the phone call. In fact, she was pacing around in a manner that looked like she was about to explode. Sara gave Leonard a cautious look before approaching the door, knocking gently to attract her attention, and opening it to allow themselves in. 

Ava looked at them briefly, giving a very emotionally dissonant smile to them before focusing her attention back onto the phone. The thing about being a clone, was that she doesn’t age, so other than the little bit of makeup on her face and the different styles of hair she goes through, she hasn’t changed at all within the last seven years. 

“And you’ll make sure that every single nut, bolt and screw is accounted for or so help me I will make you repair the entire damn thing yourself. Do you hear me? Now make it happen!” Ava slammed the phone down, looked up to the roof with her eyes closed briefly and inhaled before slowly exhaling. 

“I’m, sorry, you had to witness that,” Ava brushed her hands down her suit jacket and through her hair before turning to them.  
“Rough day at work?” Sara laughed as she approached the desk while Leonard stayed back a few steps.

Ava’s laugh was slightly less genuine and more so just to get herself to relax, “Tell me about it. Someone tried to turn the Eifel Tower in a rocket ship. Nobody messes with my Eifel Tower and gets away it,” Ava sat down at her seat and gestured for them to take a seat opposite, “I’m sorry. It’s great to see you two again. What brings you by?”

Sara and Leonard looked to each as they took a seat opposite Ava. Just by his expression, Sara knew he wasn’t going to be the one to explain it, so took the duty herself. 

“Leonard and I, have decided,” Sara paused briefly as she made sure Ava was listening, “have decided to retire.”  
Ava’s eyes slowly widened, and a look of shock appeared on her face momentarily before swiftly being replaced by a look of joy, “Is this real? Are you two really doing this?” the two of them nodded in response, which resulted in Ava bursting from her seat and rushing around the table to embrace them.

They were barely given enough time to stand and prepare themselves before having Ava’s arms bring them into a hug. Snart held back a painful groan as pressure began applying to his ribs. It wasn’t agonising, just a bit sore, so he would put up with it. 

“I’m so happy for you two. God, if anyone deserves to finally rest and hang up the outfits, it’s you guys.”

Even one of Snart’s arms found its way around Ava as the trio hugged it out in her office. A hug that was promptly interrupted by the door being slammed open. 

“You’re quitting!?” Gary’s body and face looked just as shocked as he sounded. 

Everyone turned to him and looked in confusion, nobody having a clue as to how he heard them and where he came from. 

His face scrunched up, lip trembling as he looked like he was about to cry, glints of tears forming and reflecting the light, “Were you going to tell me?”

“Of course, Gary,” Sara looked at him with a sympathetic smile and gestured for him to join them, slapping Leonard again when she heard him mumble something mean under his breath. 

Gary, albeit his quirks and charms, was still one of the most loveable people around with the biggest heart out there. So there was no way they wouldn’t let him join in a hug. He approached them quickly and he was on the verge of sobbing as he wrapped his arms around the three of them. 

A few moments later and Gary stepped back, allowing the other three to separate. With a few sniffles amongst his sentences, he said he would give them some time to say goodbye and stepped out of the office. 

“Are you sure he’s not some meta or a magical creature?” Snart eyed him cautiously as Gary weaved across the office floor until he went around a corner and out of sight.  
“Sometimes, I really don’t know,” Ava muttered as she too watched him leave, “Anyway, I’m so happy for you guys. You guys want to take a vacation to any time period before you settle down? Trip to outer space? Visit dinosaurs? You name it, I can arrange it.”

Sara and Leonard looked at each other briefly, and with just a look that lasted only a second, they may as well have had a twenty-minute-long conversation. They both turned back to her and shook their heads. 

“Days of time-travelling, and crime-fighting are almost completely behind us now. Just one more mission and then we’re going to see how we go being a normal married couple goes,” Sara explained.  
Ava beamed a wide smile and pulled Sara into another hug, “Oh I’m just so glad for you guys. The work the two of you have done for this organisation is just outstanding.”

“Pretty sure this organisation wouldn’t have existed if she didn’t break time,” Snart drawled, a smug grin on his face as he looked over at Sara.  
There was a look of betrayal on her face at his accusation, but she had her own counter-argument, “Says the man who blew up the original Time Masters and the machine that prevented time from breaking apart in the first place.”

“Hey,” Leonard’s smugness was wiped clean off his face, “I think I did Time a favour.”

“Ok, ok, ok,” Ava laughed as she stepped in between them, arms keeping them apart, “If you’d really like, I can always have you two locked up for temporal crimes. I’m pretty sure there’s a section 681 subsection A that would love to be exercised and have you locked up for destroying the timeline.”

That shut the both of them up, and with another exchange of looks, they turned to her with faux innocence plastered over their faces, as if they were two siblings being told off by their mum. 

Sara rolled her eyes as Ava laughed at them again before bending down to pick up her bag. From it, she withdrew her Time Bureau access badge, some of the different time couriers she had, picked up, over the course of her adventures, and lastly her access key to the Waverider. 

“I was hoping maybe you could just deprogram it,” Sara pointed to the final item, “Figured I could keep it as a memento.”  
Ava looked up from the items on her desk and nodded, “That can be arranged.”

Snart approached the desk beside Sara, a blank expression on his face as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a lanyard with his own access badge. Then he scratched his eyebrow briefly before retrieving another lanyard with an access badge, not of his own. Ava’s expression faltered, and she looked at the part-time thief with a mixture of disappointment and expectancy. 

Because of course, this was going to happen. 

It wasn’t the last, as he reached into his pocket again and pulled out another access badge, and another, and another. His expression remaining perfectly calm as if he were just emptying his pockets at the end of a long day. He dragged it out purposefully, occasionally flicking his gaze to the director who continued to watch him empty the contents of his pockets, as time couriers and badges that didn’t belong to him were placed on the table. 

“Are you done?” Ava sighed and crossed her arms as Leonard stepped back from the table.

Leonard almost nodded, then brought up his finger as he fished for the final item in his back pocket, extending out to the table and gently sliding it into the pile, “Now I’m done,” he drawled. 

Ava rolled her eyes, but she wasn’t genuinely annoyed by his actions, considering they were only minor inconveniences and the disappearance of all these items were usually reported missing within twenty-four hours after Leonard had been present in the building. Nobody, not even Gary with his weird ability to appear anywhere, could actually prove that it was Snart and not just some coincidence, so she never pressed the matter.

“So this final mission of yours,” Ava looked between the two of them, “When is it happening?”  
“Fifty-eight hours from now,” Leonard answered, looking down at his hands as they clenched and unclenched. 

“One last arms’ deal that we have to shut down and then we’re done,” Sara added as she looked at Snart tentatively, “Had a problem earlier this week but we’re getting through.”

Ava nodded, realising that the uncomfortable and wincing expressions from Snart must have been a result of this, problem, “Sorry,” she says to him, realising how tight she might have been with the hug. 

He waves a dismissive hand in a ‘don’t worry’ gesture.

A knock on the glass door grabbed their attention before being slowly opened. Nate stuck his head in gave a small smile as he saw who else was in the room. 

“Oh hey Captain,” Nate waved to Sara.  
Sara sighed and grinned as she looked to her former crew member, “You need to stop calling me captain. I haven’t been in that position for years and I feel old enough already.”

She had already gone through that feeling this morning. 

Nate laughed, “Sorry Sara. Hey Snart, how are you going?”

“Peachy,” Snart drawled, “You?”  
Nate shrugged, “Was going alright until Gary appeared in my office crying. Did someone say something to him?” with a look that was definitely directed to the former in the room more than the director and former captain.  
Snart raised his hands defensively, “Not what you think.”

“Leonard and I have decided we’re going to retire. Leave Central City, and settle down somewhere,” Sara explained. 

Nate raised his eyebrows and looked at the pair with a smile, “Oh nice. Congratulations. I think you guys will make great parents-”

Snart almost choked as Sara suddenly raised her hands in the air while shaking her head hard, “No! God no! I am not pregnant! Why did you even assume that as the first thing?”  
“Oh,” Nate looked surprised, “I just thought that with Nora and Ray settling down to have their child a few months ago, that maybe you guys got the same idea. So you’re not pregnant?”

“Definitely not,” Sara replied, shaking her head vigorously at the implication. 

Snart was momentarily frozen in place and deep in thought, but nobody seemed to notice.

Nate shrugged and walked towards them, “Well then, I’m happy for you guys anyway. Come here, Cap.”

Sara rolled her eyes and laughed as Nate’s arms opened and he gestured for her to come closer. She embraced him warmly, before she was lifted off the ground suddenly and spun around. Snart watched with a humoured smirk as Heywood put her back down and stepped up to shake the old crook’s hand. 

“Well I’m going to make sure Gary’s ok, and that he doesn’t blow our entire budget on tissue boxes,” Nate said as he began walking to the door of Ava’s office, “I’m happy for you guys. Should invite us around for a party one day.”

Snart and Lance both waved as Nate exited the office and headed back towards his own. 

“How are Ray and Nora? Is the baby coming along okay?” Sara asks Ava, sitting back down in the chair opposite the director.  
Ava sighs and rubs her head, “Oh, about as well as you can expect from a hormonal witch. The baby is fine,” she assures, “the mother on the other hand. Well, Ray was telling me last week that she almost summoned an army from Hell when doing the groceries.”

Snart chuckles in the background as he limps back over to his seat, “Someone steal the last of her favourite ice-cream?”  
Ava shrugs, “Something like that I think. Anyway, had to send an agent to wipe the minds of everyone there and then delete all the security footage.”

Ava begins typing away at her computer and then spins the monitor around to show the other two when she finds what she was looking for. On the screen is what looks like a medical bay of sorts, but with the equipment necessary for delivering a baby. But there are also some other weird looking pieces of technology, and a combination of stalagmites and stalactites with some purple glowing energy surrounding them. 

“Well that looks warm and fuzzy,” Snart drawls, leaning in closer to view the room. 

“It’s what will keep us all alive hopefully during the delivery procedure,” Ava responds with what sounds like an almost defeated tone, “The room is designed to create a frequency which should cut Mrs Palmer off from the magic fault lines, thereby preventing her from opening any demon portals or nuking the building with one of her spells.”

Sara and Leonard both sit back in the chairs in silence, nodding as they both imagine the possibility of something going wrong. Ava turns the monitor back towards her and picks up the Waverider access key.

“I’ll make sure to get this back to you asap,” she promises the former captain of the vessel, then turns to the former crook, “Is there anything you’d like Mr Snart? That you haven’t stolen already?” she adds with a raised eyebrow.

Leonard’s lips curl up to one side in a smirk, staring down the director before shaking his head. 

Ava nods and stands back up, “Well then. I guess now would be the time where I say something along the lines of, ‘you are hereby relieved of duty for the Time Bureau.’

Sara stands and smirks at the director, “It has been a pleasure, Ms Sharpe.”

The director walks around the table and embraces the captain once more in a tight hug.

Sara smiles as the director unwraps her arms from her body, then turns to Leonard and asks if he’s ready to go. He nods and pushes himself to his feet, doing a good job of hiding the pain it causes him and moves over to the door. 

“Actually, Sara,” Ava calls out before the woman leaves, “Can I have a word with you, in private please?”

Sara turns to Leonard, places a hand on his arm and asks him to wait outside for her. Once he closes the door behind him, Sara walks back over to the desk which has been cleared of the access badges and time couriers that had been returned. 

The captain takes a seat whilst the director slowly walks across the borders of the room and closes every blind and blocks all sight into the room.

“Uh, I’ve spent hours trying to imagine how this conversation would go do between us, and all it’s done is delay the inevitable,” Ava admits when she starts approaching her desk again.  
A look of concern forms on Sara’s face, “Is something wrong?”

Ava takes a deep breath and nods, “As you know, I am a clone, which means I don’t age,” Sara nods to let the director know she’s listening, “But just because I’m a clone, doesn’t mean I don’t, expire.”

Sara’s breath gets caught up in her throat, eyes going wide as the word sinks into her brain. Expire. It sounds so formal, as if it is some attempt to make the reality of the word any less meaningful. 

Ava lets out a weak laugh, “Yeah, I looked a bit like that when I first found out too.”

A shake of the head and Sara snaps out of her stunned state, “Ava? What? How?”

The director lifts a hand in a gesture that requests silence for her to explain, and the captain closes her mouth before she can ask more of the hundreds of questions firing off in her head. 

“Gideon told me,” Ava begins, “Sort of. A few months ago, I wasn’t feeling so well, so I had Gideon perform a check-up on me. It wasn’t anything major, just a bad case of food poisoning, but while Gideon was running scans, she said something was, odd. Supposedly my DNA code had been altering itself over time, diverting power from some of the lesser required functions of my body to keep powering the more necessary ones.”

Ava fiddles with her fingers, avoiding eye contact with the captain, “So she helped me return back to 2213, where we made some inquiries as to my condition. Clones have a 12-year life expectancy, before we simply degrade, and, stop functioning.”

The world seemed to stop around Sara, her mind going into overdrive as her brain raced through everything she knew about Ava. Whilst Sara couldn’t care less about her own age, the director’s suddenly became the most important thing to know. 

“Two and a half years,” Ava could see the gears turning in the former captain’s head and decided to spare her the difficulty of working it out, “That’s how long I have left before this body needs to be replaced.”

Sara breath froze in her lung, her mouth hanging open in shock and for minutes Sara just sat in silence, looking at the director as if her world was collapsing around her. 

The sinking feeling in her stomach made her feel sick, and it felt reminiscent of when she stepped out of the shower earlier this week to find Leonard gone and discover he had been caught.

“But the, body, can be replaced right?” Sara took control of herself once more and leant forward with full attention, “Your, your mind can still retain everything, right?” Her voice is like a plea, begging to be proven right.

Ava goes silent, eyes focusing the table between them and refusing to look anywhere near the captain. 

“Ava?” Sara’s voice tries to break through, her tone almost demanding in nature, “Ava!”  
The director looks up with a solemn expression, placing her arms on the table as she narrows in on Sara, “Yes, that can be arranged.” 

Sara lets out a huge sigh of relief.

“But I don’t know if I want to,” Ava continues, eyes darting downwards. 

And then Sara freezes again, eyes attempting to lock with the director’s. 

“What do you mean, ‘I don’t know if I want to?’” Sara finally speaks after what could have been minutes of silence. 

Ava shrugs, as if that’s really all she has to explain, “I don’t know, Sara. This is just, weird for me alright? Every AVA clone is meant to have an owner. Rip was my owner, he was the one who chose to replace me when I would die, but with him dead, the decision falls on my hands, and it just feels so weird.”

Sara remains silent, listening with full attentiveness. 

“God, Sara,” Ava rubs her hands over her head, “Should I even be allowed this kind of control? I’m a freaking clone for fuck's sake. My emotions and thoughts are just a highly advanced AI like Gideon when you break me down, and I’m pretty sure it goes against every sci-fi rule to give sentient AI’s the choice over possible immortality.”

Although the sci-fi reference doesn’t fully click in Sara’s head, the immortality part does. 

“You don’t know how long you want to live?” her guess is spot on as Ava nods in confirmation. 

Sara doesn’t know what to think, and her brain fails at trying to place herself in Ava’s position. Sara’s just human, flesh and blood, already experienced with death and knows for a fact that her body will day give in and not wake up. It’s out of her control for the most part whether she lives or dies, but for Ava, a clone, she now has direct control over whether she ‘lives’ or ‘dies.’ And Sara simply doesn’t know what to say or think about that. 

“I’m sorry to be bringing this up now when you’re so focused on retiring,” Ava apologises, grabbing a tissue from the corner of her desk and bringing it up to her face, “You’ve been so special to me Sara, made me experience things no other AVA clone would get to experience, and that makes me the luckiest clone in all of history. I just don’t know what to do about it and you seemed like the only person I could talk to about this.”

Sara pushes her out of the seat, and with lightning speed, moves around the table and holds Ava close to her, “It’s okay Ava. It will be okay. I’m here for you, always.”

The director sniffles into the tissue, one arm wrapping around the standing blonde’s body. 

“I have to go back to 2213,” Ava says, “I know you and Leonard said you want to put all the time travel behind you when you retire, but I was hoping that maybe you could be there for me when the time comes.”

“God, Ava,” Sara’s on the verge of joining Ava in crying, a weak laugh escaping her as if the answer wasn't obvious already, “Of course. Of course, I will be there for you. No hesitation. No questions. Whatever you decide, I will be there for you, every moment of it.”

“Thank you, Sara,” Ava finally breaks, and the tears streak down her face in a steady flow, “Thank you for everything, for giving this clone the chance to love.”

Sara holds her even tighter, one arm rubbing her hand along the back of the woman in her hold, chin resting on Ava’s hair. 

Even though Sara and Ava may no longer be in a relationship, the pair always had a special place in each other’s hearts. They remained close, companionable, much like Caitlin and Leonard, but there was always a residual amount of true love for each other that permeated between them. 

Hearing this news, well and truly broke Sara’s heart. 

“I promise,” Sara manages to say through her ragged breathing, “I promise I will be there for you.”

XXX

Hours later, back in their apartment, Leonard is speechless as Sara tells him what’s happening with Ava. 

All that tension between them from this morning, when he discovered she had hidden his plans and told him off had vanished when he saw the streaks of tears on his wife’s face. As if nothing else mattered in that moment, and really, nothing else did, Leonard got them through a portal and back into their home, holding her tightly. 

Sara’s comment from earlier, about them having a talk about his behaviour, is delayed and put to the back of their minds, in light of the more pressing matter. 

He hasn’t the faintest clue on where to begin answering the dilemma that Ava is presented with, and he truly sympathises for the other woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how it happened. This was originally a fun and short chapter, but I wanted something more between Sara and Ava at the end. I just didn't intend for it to turn out like this until I was actually writing it and not doing anything to stop myself. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading and thank you for commenting. Any kind of support you guys show is much appreciated. 
> 
> Next chapter should definitely be more 'fun' I hope.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there. 
> 
> Enjoy this fun little chapter filled with probably too many references that I've crammed in there.

*March 2020 (one week after the dinner)*

What are the chances she isn’t really paying attention to what he’s saying? Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the supposedly extraordinary White Canary, fearless leader of the Waverider, saviour of time and conqueror of magical creatures, practically bouncing as she tries to contain herself. 

“And once you swing over the pit of fire breathing snakes, I’ll swoop in with the helicopter and extract you before we chase down a nuke and prevent World War Three,” it was the most outlandish thing he could come up with on the spot, “Got it?”

She has this stupidly large, and irritatingly infectious, grin on her face that’s been there since Caitlin left S.T.A.R. Labs to go home. He knows exactly what’s on her mind, and knows that she’s practically dying to ask him the hundreds of questions she has. 

His details of their plan gloss over her head, leaving no indication that they were actually heard. Although he suspects her brain was listening out for his question about whether she understood the plan, because she nods.

“Yep. Sounds like a great plan.”

Oh, she definitely hadn’t ‘got it.’ Time to snap her out of this reverie state.

“Good, so what’s the plan?” Snart cocked his head to the side and gestured for her to take the floor. 

That definitely worked, because her eyes widen and her face flashes over with guilt for a brief moment. 

“Hmm?” Sara suddenly recoiled as her brain tried to play catch-up and figure out what she missed.

He nods with a smug grin, “It’s always a good idea to repeat the plan and clear up any confusion now rather than on the field.”

“Yes. Umm. Uh. You do the fingerprint scanning thing, and then I do the… thing,” Sara was trying to make herself look confident in what she was saying, but her voice and hesitancy was giving her away, “and then…” her finger bounced as she nodded at him, biting her bottom lip to try and stay focused, “and then, the painting is ours.”

If she hadn’t looked so uncertain and hesitant at the start, he might have believed her by the faux confidence she displayed at the end. 

Snart leant back against one of the tables in the cortex. He needed a few things from S.T.A.R. Labs for his plan, which is why he suggested they meet here and discuss the plan for the mission in two days. Caitlin had to leave shortly after they began getting into the details of the plan, which is when Sara became distracted. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be getting Sara’s undivided attention until he at least gives her a chance to ask some questions. 

“Why Lance, it looks like you want to ask me something,” Leonard drawled, looking at her with a faux cluelessness.

“Okay, tell me about you and Caitlin,” Sara clasps her hands together and leans forward over the table to Leonard, eagerness flooding from her in gallons, “What are things like between you two? Is this a serious relationship, or casual? How did it happen? Was it romantic?”

He reminds her of Lisa when he was younger and used to date. She would always hamper him about every minute detail she could possibly extract, never leaving him alone until her almost insatiable curiosity could be, satiated. 

Leonard shrugs, having already prepared an answer designed to mess with her, “It’s the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl. Girl finds boy. Boy forgets girl, boy remembers girls. Girl dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day.”

There’s silence hanging in the air once Leonard finishes. It’s eerily quiet in S.T.A.R. Labs when nobody is around. Leonard stares at her with a deadpan expression, and Sara looks at him with a confused expression.

Nobody moves, and for a second, he thinks something’s happened to her. Then her expression shifts, and a second later she frowns before reaching over and slapping his arm in frustration. 

“Come on Leonard, no jokes! Tell me!”

God, she is really is just as nosy as his sister. They would be a nightmare together. He makes a mental note to make sure they do not both meet up anytime soon. Who knows how long he’d survive interrogation at the hands of their combined partnership. 

“Okay,” he snatches his arms out from her reach, “Fine. Well, I guess one of the things that makes it different from every other relationship, is the physical strain of having to adjust to cold temperatures. Muscles don’t always work like they should when it’s cold, but it’s been worth it. And it’s just as important to note that I have to please not one, but two people at the same time.”

“Oh my god, I didn’t even think of that,” Sara gasps, eyes going wide as the gears in her head turn, dozens more questions forming, “What’s it like having two different people in the one body? Does it count as polygamy? Do you sometimes fall asleep next to one and wake up next the other? Does it count as a threesome whe-”

“Lance!” Snart’s voice snaps Sara out of her rambling state and she jolts back in surprise at being cut off, “The plan,” he gestures to the blueprints lying on the table between them, “please?”

Sara looks ready to burst out with more questions, but with a heavy and disappointed sigh, she holds back and nods, “Alright, okay,” she says if she wasn’t thrilled to be doing an old-fashioned heist.

XXX

*two days later*  
Entry is only accessible through the underground carpark of the large building, with a service elevator in the back of the lot, beyond the numerous guard outposts. Thankfully, they were able to be driven straight through all of it thanks to Leonard’s brand-new acquaintance. 

With some highly skilled persuasion, Leonard was able to convince one of the resource managers of the security company that the briefcase handcuffed to Leonard’s wrist contained some of the most precious diamonds around. It didn’t, obviously. Instead, it contained the fingertips of a 3D-printed hand, with the fingerprints of one of the high-clearance security staff. 

Sara was hiding the trunk of the car and would require an alternative method of reaching the 17th floor. A method that requires her scaling through the vents. She is genuinely excited about doing this, considering that she hasn’t gotten the opportunity to do some old-fashioned, vent climbing and cat burglary in a long time. 

Leonard guesses dealing with magical creatures and time aberrations don’t require that kind of activity. 

Leonard is led into the elevator after being processed through the guard station, and is currently standing with his back pressed to the wall as he watches the back of the other male’s head. 

“Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise?” Leonard says in a relaxed tone.

He sees the other man’s head look forward and tilt in confusion, “Huh?”

“I thought not,” Leonard continues, gently rocking the briefcase in his hands, “It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. Unfortunately, it’s not a story I’m telling you either.”

And with a hard smack of the briefcase against the guy’s head, the guy was out cold. Leonard peeked his head out of the elevator, checking that the coast was clear before dragging the body to the nearest supply closet, fortunately only two doors down the corridor. 

A quick text to Sara informed her the coast was clear, and while he waited, he used the app on his phone that Cisco developed for him to manipulate the security cameras into playing a loop, so they wouldn’t be detected. There was also the need of dealing with the other security measures in the room where the painting was being stored.

Laser grid sensors on the floor to detect footsteps, motion sensors that track body heat and the pesky electric cage surrounding the painting itself. On his own, Snart would almost certainly have no chance of pulling this off. Instead, having to wait for the exhibition next week to steal it where it’s more vulnerable. But having a highly trained assassin as his partner for this mission provided him with the necessary conditions to pull this off. 

With the app on his phone, he used the vulnerability in the air conditioning system to raise the ambient room temperature of the room to match their body heats. An old trick he’s used before to get past the motion sensors. Motions sensors work by detecting changes in the ambient room temperature, which he is now rising to match body heat. 

He had just stuffed his phone back in his pocket when he heard the small thuds in the roof above him. By looking up, he could see Lance’s grin looking down at him through the grate in the ceiling. He stepped back as she removed the grate and gracefully dropped down into the supply room beside him. 

He looks at her expectantly as she brushes the dust off her.

“What?” she asks when the look doesn’t fade.  
“You didn’t say the line,” gesturing as if it should have been obvious.  
Her confusion grows, “What line?”

“You know, the line you’re meant to say when you jump down from a high place and land in front of someone,” her confusion doesn’t clear, and he gives up and waves a dismissive hand, “Whatever. Haven’t seen you in that outfit a long time.”

Sara wasn’t wearing her White Canary suit tonight. Instead, it was a dark black outfit with a scale-like pattern etched across the majority of the material. A zipper along the front and a collar that covered her entire neck when pulled up. It had definitely been a while, because the last time she wore that was in –

“1986,” Sara smirked, “Trying to rescue Martin, Ray and Mick from a Russian Gulag. I haven’t worn it much since.”  
“Hope you haven’t been given a secret side mission to put a bullet in me too,” Snart watched her expression go blank and a singular eyebrow raised, “Sorry. Terrible joke.”

“Yeah well, I wouldn’t do it anyway. Don’t think I could handle Frost hunting me down for the rest of my life for killing her, boyfriend,” Sara teases, playfully punching his arm. 

Snart rolled his eyes and returned to his briefcase and pulled out some gloves and threw them over his shoulder, “Compliments of Cisco. Your hands will be sweating with how hot it’s going to be in there, and since you need as much grip as possible, these gloves will help. Don’t remember the name of them,” Snart waved dismissively, “Something, something, Spider-Man. Whatever. He was geeking out over them and said they would come in handy.”

Sara chuckled at the pun as she slid the gloves over her hand and made sure they felt comfortable enough for her to use. Then she stood back and watched as Snart pulled out the small 3D printed fingertips and slid them over his own fingertips. 

He approached the door, tucking the briefcase under one arm as he used his other to open the door, “This is where the fun begins.”

Sara gave him a briefly puzzled expression before strutting out the room and into the corridor. 

They proceeded around the floor until they got to the correct door. Sara watched and listened for any signs of trouble as Leonard used the fake fingers to fool the fingerprint scanner.

“Where’d you learn these tricks anyway?” Sara whispered, eyes still scanning every door and corner that they could be seen from.

“From a tv show, I think,” Leonard quietly responded as the door beeped open, “Remember, we have at least three minutes before people should start getting suspicious.”

“No pressure, right?” Sara comments as she enters the room.

Leonard huffs and follows in behind her, “Well it’s no ‘42 blocks in seven and a half minute or our ass is fired’ kind of pressure, but yeah, three minutes isn’t a lot of time.”

It was like a warehouse floor, only 17 stories above ground and slightly smaller. About a dozen meters long and half a dozen meters wide, with the electric cage surrounding the glass case containing the painting. 

They walked cautiously up to the edge of the laser floor sensors and they could already feel the heat from the air conditioners. Sara undid her zipper and opened up her outfit to try and cool off. Snart had already prepared and was wearing very thin and breathable clothing in the first place, but he also didn’t need to sneak around as much as she did just to get here.

“Are you sure the sensors can’t detect us?” Sara tied her hair up into a bun, “Fuck, it’s really warm.”  
“Be glad it is,” Snart replied with a grin, “Ambient room temperature is matching our current body temps, so we’re practically camouflaged within the heat. But trust me, I hate the feeling too.”

He was most likely feeling it a lot more than Sara was, for the simple fact that his lover for the past few months has a well-below-average body temperature. It’s getting to the point where even a normal day can feel quite warm with how his body has tried to adjust. 

Once Sara had finished tying up her hair, she attached a tube for the painting onto her belt along with a rope and hook. 

Then she let out a string of expletives as she stripped out of her jacket and tank top, leaving herself only in long pants and a sports bra. Leonard immediately turned his back to her as he took the fake fingers off his hand and stuffed them into his pocket. 

“A little help please?” Sara’s coy voice spoke out and he turned around to see her gesturing to the ceiling.  
“Oh, right,” Leonard gave a weak smile as he tried not to let his eyes linger too much on her body. 

Because holy crap she was hot. Abs that put speedsters to shame, muscles along her torso and arms that may as well have doubled in the last few years. Scars that lined her torso, different blades that sliced across her flesh, the marks left by the arrows that had pierced her chest, and well shit. He was staring, wasn’t he?

Sara let out an embarrassed laugh, and it almost feels instinctual for him to say that she has nothing to be ashamed of. He holds his tongue back, trying to distract himself with remaining focused on the mission.

“Sorry, just wearing all black clothing is way too hot.”

He definitely agrees that it’s hot, but not just limited to temperature. No. Stay focused. 

Leonard gives a weak smile as he approached her and crouched down with both hands cupped in front of him, “You ready?” Sara nodded and placed her hands on his shoulders, head looking up at the pipe above them and she placed her foot in his hands, “Three, two, one,” and with a powerful push, Lance used his momentum to rocket herself into the air and grab hold of the pipe along the ceiling.

From here on out, it was up to her to retrieve the painting. Leonard watched as Sara swung herself across the roof, swinging from pipe to railing to metal strut as she closed the gap from the edge of the room to the electric fence. Her body was glistening with tiny little beads of sweat, refracting the light from the room, creating a faint glow around her. It was mesmerising, and then he remembered where they were. 

His eyes darted to the watch on his wrist, counting down the time they had left remaining in his three-minute guaranteed window. Over an entire minute had already been used up.

It puzzles him, the security measures in this room. Why have all this technology, if they’re going to use an electric fence that doesn’t even reach the ceiling? It seems like such an oversight in his opinion. Like sure, nobody is actually meant to be able to get over the fence, and the only reason Sara is because Cisco made fancy gloves. But still. If they had simply made the fence reach the roof, this entire plan would be all for nothing and the painting would be secure for at least another week. 

Sara was just approaching the electric fence, swinging her legs back and forth to build up momentum before flinging herself over the fence and grabbing onto the railing above the case. Pulling out a small mountain climber’s hook from her belt, she attached it to a rope and hooked it onto the metal railing.

She dropped down gently and using Leonard’s lock picks, cracked the lock rather easily and opened the class case. Delicately but still in a hasty fashion, she secured the painting in a tube hanging off her belt, and pulled herself up the rope before traversing her way back to Leonard. 

24 seconds to make it back, but it appeared to be just enough. Sara may be getting tired, but she’s dealt with worse and the gloves were definitely helping a lot. She landed gracefully in front of Leonard and let out an exhausted sigh as she handed over the tube with the painting rolled inside. 

Leonard went to work securing it in the briefcase and scooped up Sara’s discarded clothes as they exited the room, scurrying back to the supply closet where they met up. 

He handed the clothes back over to her as he went about disabling the camera loop and the temperature controls. 

“Wonderful work Lance,” Snart drawled, “We just made one mob boss a very happy man.”

“I still can’t believe you and Caitlin had a date with mobsters,” Sara huffed as she slid her top back over her torso.  
Snart smirked, “We can’t all have dates with Vikings or Royalty in the 12th century.”

Sara very much enjoyed the time where Ava took her back to Viking times. It was nice not having to worry about viscous warriors all forming a cult under the Blue God Beeboo. Plus, Sara is not one to refuse a great Viking feast. 

Snart secured the briefcase back to his wrist with the handcuffs and performed a quick inventory check on everything. Once he was satisfied, he returned the building’s systems to normal to disguise their alteration. Hopefully it would be a while before anybody notices the painting is missing, and by then, they should be long gone. 

“Alright, I’ll meet you back in the car. Hide in the trunk until I get us past security,” Snart spoke as he watched Sara put on her jacket again, although she wasn’t comfortable with the amount of sweat on her body.  
“Sounds good, can you help me up again?” Sara gestured to the vent above them. 

Once Leonard had lifted Sara back into the vent, Snart exited the supply closet and returned to the elevator and selected the underground carpark. He held himself casually, trying to keep the smug grin from the successful mission off his face as the door opened and he walked over towards the car. 

He sat in it for a few minutes, waiting for the sound of his partner to climb in the back. Once she was in place, Leonard walked around to the trunk holding his briefcase and looked inside to see the blonde in black clothing.

“All set?” he looks down.  
“Yep,” Sara responds with dual finger guns.

“Here, hold this,” he said with a smirk as he passed her the briefcase, “I’ll get us clear of the building and then we’ll head back to S.T.A.R. Labs.”

Sara nodded silently before he closed the trunk and hopped back into the car. 

Getting through the guard post was easy since he had already been cleared by the guy currently passed out in the supply closet. 

Once he was clear from the building and had put a few blocks between them, he pulled over to the side of the road, opened the trunk with a button on the key and waited for his partner to climb into the car beside him before they drove off again. 

The air conditioner was set to maximum, chilled air blasting out of the vents towards them both. Sara relieved herself of her black outfit, throwing it in the back and undoing her hair from its bun. Without a second thought, she turned the direction of the vents to face her, leaving Leonard with a small vent by the door. 

He didn’t mind, because she deserved it after doing most of the hard work. Besides, he had an icy meta waiting for him back at S.T.A.R. Labs. 

“How are you and Sharpe?” 

He had never really asked her directly how they are. The only time he’s told of how things are going is if she’s got something interesting she wants to tell him when they see each other next. It’s how he found about the Viking party and the dinner with the royal family in the 12th century. 

Sara had shut her eyes to block the cold air from getting to them, but her head turned slightly, indicating she was listening and thinking of a response. 

“Ironic,” she finally says with what sounds like distaste in her mouth, “for lack of a better term.”

He must admit, he hasn’t really heard a relationship be described as ironic before, “How so?”

He hears her draw in a deep breath before replying, “Ava is the director of the Time Bureau, and I’m the captain of a time machine. But, ironically, we’re not finding much, time, to do anything with each other. We’re constantly having to cancel or push things back. It’s been weeks since we’ve had a proper date where we got to decide what we want to do.”

“What about last week? When Cait was texting you during dinner?”

Sara makes a noise somewhere between a laugh and frustrated sigh, “That was meant to be a trip to the Wild West.”

“Wild West huh? Planning to run into Rip’s old pal?” Leonard smirks, remembering the interesting cowboy.  
Sara shrugs, “Possibly, but we’ll never get to know now. And I fear that these cancellations will only continue to occur more and more.”

“What about tonight? I didn’t take you from any plans, did I?” there’s a hint of guilt in his tone, and that causes her to open her eyes and look at him. 

As much as he enjoyed her company and stealing a painting together, no part of him is comfortable with the idea that he made her cancel on any plans she had with Ava. 

“Not at all,” she’s touched by his words and the sincerity in his tone, “Ava is with Nate at the Pentagon this week, so, I had no plans to be interrupted. I’m actually really glad you invited me out to this because I was fucking losing my mind.” 

“The Legends have nothing to do?” Leonard says with disbelief, because he figures something must always be going on with them.  
“We have to wait on what the DoD decides on before we can do anything,” Sara responds.

“I know it’s probably a government secret and you can’t disclose it, but care to explain why you need to wait for the Department of Defence?” Leonard casts a glance at her briefly.  
Sara sighs, “It’s about Zari, and trying to correct the future. It’s, a problem, that we’d like to correct.”

“Future problem? Like Star City, 2046?” Leonard asked.

Sara rocked her head side to side, “Sorta like that. I’m pretty sure we don’t have to worry about that future happening though. Flashpoint and all the other timeline changes that have happened made sure that version of reality won’t come to be.”

“Ah,” Snart smirked, “Looks like Barry didn’t fuck up everything then.”

Sara laughs, “He still messed up a lot. But this is different. Something happens to A.R.G.U.S. and they take over half of the world, like Casnia 2147, only a century earlier,” Sara explained, “Zari’s family gets caught in the chaos, along with millions of others. But it’s proving to be complicated because A.R.G.U.S. is one of the Pentagon’s biggest security corporations. Imagine trying to explain that they turn America into a police and mass-surveillance state.”

Leonard frowns at the thought of a police state coming into effect, “Ah, complicated indeed. And I assume that changing the timeline will also erase Tomaz as well?”

“That is an entirely other problem that Ray and Zari are trying to figure out,” Sara nods, “I know it seems selfish and petty, but every time Ava and I try to go further, something terrible comes up, and for once I’d just like for there to be a nice break where I don’t have to worry about what creatures want to destroy the world next.” 

“You shouldn’t feel guilty for wanting true happiness,” Leonard spoke with a firm seriousness in his voice, “You’re doing good work, saving time, kicking ass. Everything you’ve done for history and the future has been selfless, so if anyone deserves to be happy, it’s you.”

He glances momentarily at her, her eyes looking right back at him with admiration. When she realises she’s been caught, her face shifts into a grin.

“Since when did Leonard Snart get so sentimental?” she asks, a light teasing tone mixed in her voice. 

Although the tone is teasing, they both know there’s a genuine appreciation from her in response to his words. 

"You know, I was pretty selfless,” he smirks at her, “Sacrificing myself to blow up the Oculus, take out an evil organisation of time manipulators, and restore free will to the timeline. And look at me. I’m happy now. Guess you’re just gonna have to step up your game Lance.”

Sara looks at him blankly for a second, then slowly succumbs to the laughter building up inside her, “Oh, shut up, you,” she slaps his arm with a playful smirk. 

It’s comforting for him, that they can actually laugh about it now. It doesn’t hold the same misery and pain it once inflicted when thought about, and he’s grateful that they’ve been able to move beyond it together. 

They arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs and Leonard followed the captain in, holding the briefcase in his hand as they headed towards the cortex. It was empty when they arrived, but as they looked around, they spotted Caitlin sitting at a desk in the medical bay with earphones plugged in, seemingly oblivious to their presence. 

“I’m a sweaty mess, so I’m gonna have a shower,” she looks between Leonard and Caitlin, “I’ll make sure to give you two some, alone time.”

Nothing could get rid of the devilish grin on her face as she saunters out of the cortex. Leonard’s middle finger raises in her direction, and she pokes her tongue back at him before laughing as she disappears around the corner. 

Snart rolled his eyes, placed the briefcase on the floor beside the computer and silently walked up behind the unsuspecting doctor. Tonight has been all about risks, and the thought going through in his head is probably the greatest risk to his life tonight. 

His hands hovered above her shoulders and he silently counted down in his head before his hands clamped around her arms and jolted her. She squealed in fright, launching back with a force that almost had him toppling to the ground as she jumped to her feet in less than a second. 

Auburn hair turned to white within seconds, cool mist appearing at her hands as her body temperature plummeted. She turned around at lightning speeds, forming an icicle in her hand, ready to throw it at him. 

And she almost did by the time she realised it was him standing there with a mixture of fear and excitement. 

“Oh, fuck you!” Frost smashed the icicle into the floor as she stormed over to Snart who had tried to back up from her, “That was so mean! You scared Caity!” she hit him on the chest hard, pushing back with force.

“Surprise,” Leonard drawled as he raised his hands to protect himself, failing miserably as cold hands pounded his chest, “Needed some way of spiking your adrenaline.”

“I have the syringe for that!” Frost stuck her hand out to the cabinet with the dozens of syringes designed specifically for her, “Which I hardly even need now!”  
Leonard shrugged and looked at them dismissively, “That’s not fun though.”

“Oh, you want fun huh?” Frost placed her hands on her hips and looked at him challengingly, “I’ll show you fun.”

Leonard didn’t get the chance to react, as a snowball hit him square in the face and his vision was obscured. It didn’t stop at just one though, and half a dozen more were pegged at him until he was knocked off his feet. 

It was cool, refreshingly cool actually, and just what he needed after such a hot mission. 

He wipes the snow from his eyes and looks up to see a feisty Frost standing just a few meters away, arms crossed and looking down at him expectantly. 

With a sigh, he raises his hands slowly, “Sorry. It was mean.”

“Oh you planned this,” Frost scolds him, an icy finger pointed right at him, “You wanted me to cool you off from the mission.”

She knows that it isn’t hard to believe he would provoke her to get her to blast him with cold energy. It’s just like him to pull this kind of stunt. 

“You got me,” Leonard gets himself up to his knees, trying not to let too much snow, fall off his body in an attempt to remain cool, “How about we kiss and make up?”

Frost closes the distance and extends a hand down to him. Being so close to her radiating coolness, he can feel the heat from the mission fading quickly. Taking her hand and allowing her to pull him to his feet, she presses herself against him. 

Her lips crash down on his, and for one fateful moment, he thinks all is forgiven. Right up until she sends a freezing pulse through his lips and down his body, causing him to shiver from head to toe. 

If she wasn’t trying to freeze him to the bone, he’d consider it a pretty hot kiss. But she is trying to freeze him, and it is the polar opposite of hot right now. 

She smiles into it, and then mercifully pulls her mouth back, her forehead pressed against his and continuing to send cold pulses down his body. 

“Cool enough or you, darling?” Frost’s icy voice teases.  
“Yeah,” Leonard says through jittering teeth, “thanks.”

She gives him a brief peck on the lips before taking his hand and walking them over to the chairs in Caitlin’s lab. 

When they sat down, Frost began regulating Leonard’s temperature, preventing him from going into a hypothermic shock, while still keeping him cool. 

“Got the painting,” he tilts his head over to the briefcase by the cortex computers, “Mind being my bodyguard to hand it over?”

Frost trailed a cold finger along his chest, randomly firing off cold pulses, “Only if you make it up to Caity for scaring her.”

Snart smirks, “I’ve got some ideas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One reference I will give away is that the entire heist was based on Person of Interest - Season 3 Episode 14: Provenance. It was a weak episode for the series, especially with the high-quality episodes before and after it, that made this almost forgettable. But I was watching it back when I originally wrote this chapter and figured I could make fun of it, so I decided to take the heist and make fun of it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading everyone. 
> 
> We're getting close to the end. I have 11 chapters planned in total, with maybe an epilogue to tie up other matters, so not long now.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!
> 
> Here is Chapter 8. Get ready for over 5500 words of emotions and therapy for Leonard Snart. 
> 
> Enjoy.

*present day (the last night before the mission)*

It’s a feeling he’s all too familiar with by now. Coldness all over his face, obscuring his vision as usual. 

He sighs, wiping the snow off his face before another snowball was thrown and blinds him again. 

“Hello Frost,” Leonard growled as he wiped away the second snowball and saw Frost standing beside the tv with her arms crossed over her chest, “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.”

“Dick,” Frost spat as she glared at him.  
Snart wiped his hand around his neck, removing the snow that was trying to fall into his shirt, “You know it, Elsa. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Caitlin figured out what kind of lesson she wants to give you for being a dumbass and getting injured,” her chilling voice spoke across the apartment.  
“And let me guess,” Snart drawled, “That involves you?”  
Frost gave a faux smile, “Good, seems you haven’t gone completely idiotic.”

“So what is this plan anyway?” Snart spoke seriously, his tone annoyed and cold like hers, “Cause if you’re just going to stand there throwing snowballs at me and calling me crap, I’m not dealing with you.”

Frost bent over and for the first time, Leonard noticed the small bag at her feet. From it, Frost withdrew a large bottle of tequila and held it in the air.

“Your plan is to get me drunk?” Snart raised an eyebrow and looked at her sceptically.  
Frost nodded her head, “Yep.”

Snart looked over to the bathroom in the corner of the apartment, “Hate to ruin your plans Frosty, but you forget the medication I’m taking?”  
“Nope, which is why Caitlin developed this,” Frost bent down and picked up a syringe with a weird coloured liquid in it, “Will make it completely safe for you to drink.”

Leonard bit his bottom lip as he pushed all the papers off the small coffee table and cleared the couch beside him, a forced smile as he gestured for her to sit next time. Before she even sat down beside him, he could feel the ambient temperature drop around them. 

Frost sat down on the couch beside him, turning on the seat to face him, one leg curled underneath her and an arm on the backrest as her head looked at the side of his. 

“So, the mission is tomorrow night,” Frost spoke as she used her other hand to open the bottle and withdraw two glasses from the bag and begin pouring into them.  
“That it is,” Leonard took the syringe and stuck it into his arm and pressed the button. 

A wave of uneasiness washed through him, making him feel like he was about to be sick before it went away and Leonard felt clear-headed once more. Something that he didn’t suspect he was going to be feeling for much longer. 

“Did you two finally talk?” Frost asks, the vagueness irrelevant as they both know what she’s referring to. 

He nods silently. They had, and it had been lingering on his mind until he fell asleep on the couch. 

Sara opened his mind to his recent behaviour and actions, letting him realise just how serious it was. He didn’t realise how much he had obsessed over the plans and blueprints, until she revealed the numerous extended periods of times where he would just sit and stare at them these past few weeks. It frightened him at how out of control of himself he had been. 

His apology was solemn. As he had been doing a lot this week, he thanked her again for helping him when he couldn’t help himself. A fact that was eating him up from the inside. He had never felt like such a burden to anyone before until now, and he was swarmed with the guilt of how his actions had affected her. It sickened him just how much he had made her worry for his safety and wellbeing. Furious even. 

She tried to assure him that it doesn’t matter anymore. Maybe it really doesn’t now that he’s aware and they’ve talked, but it still leaves a sour taste in his mouth. 

And then she asked him how he felt. She wasn’t talking about the broken legs or the stab wound in his side. No. She was after the feelings in his heart. How he truly felt about retirement and this last mission. 

He didn’t know what to say at first. He wants this, a future with Sara, but there’s something inside him that he feels is holding him back.

Her next question sticks out to him. Did you ever think you would make it this far? His answer was a simple and truthful, no. A bullet through his head was how he imagined he would go. Or murdered in his sleep whilst in prison. Either or, it doesn’t matter, but he did not imagine getting this far. 

And he most certainly did not imagine falling in love and getting married. 

She asked him if he knew what he wanted from this, and that sent his mind into a frenzy of various thoughts. Because like his previous answer, it was another simple and truthful no. He has no fucking clue what retirement means for him. Yes, he knows he has to heal and let his body recover, but then what? Sit on the couch and watch football or something? The idea is just so foreign to him. 

“You’re scared of the unknown, and it’s your instincts trying to fight and reject it.”

Sara had then told him he didn’t need to be afraid, and that once this mission of over, they can talk about what they want to do together. Knowing that this was going to happen seemed to help him relax, and relieve some of that anxiety and fear. 

He didn’t ask for his plans back after that. Not even for a quick look. By now he knew it off by heart, and he told himself that if he couldn’t make it until the night of the plan without looking at it, then he wasn’t fit enough to go on this mission at all. 

Sara had told him to rest, and that’s when he fell asleep on the couch not long after. Until he woken up by the surprise snowball. 

“Drink up.” 

A glass was handed to him and he looked down at it before seeing Frost take her drink in one swig out of the corner of his eye. He did the same, pushing through the burning in the back of his throat. Fortunately, Frost’s icy touch had cooled the drink to a very pleasant temperature to consume without ice. 

Frost’s spare hand, the one not holding the drink, snaked its way around his body to where the stab wound he had obtained was. Her hand crawled up his shirt and he glared at her before realising what she was doing. The pain from the wound started fading as a cool pulse washed over the injury and numbed the area until it was barely noticeable. 

“Thanks,” Leonard murmured as he poured himself another drink.  
“You know how I feel about you getting hurt,” her cold voice was soft and her hand lingered momentarily before retreating.  
He let out a humoured huff as he brought the drink to his lips, “I heard about the hallway.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only noise coming from the sound of more alcohol being poured into their glasses as they continued to consume it. After his fourth glass, Leonard could feel the beginning of a slight fuzziness. Whilst Frost had to a lesser extent, the same problem as speedsters, enough drinks would eventually bring her past the point of being tipsy. Still, this was more about him than her.

“So, what’s this idea behind getting me drunk?” Leonard glanced at her through the corner of his eyes.

Frost smirks as she moves the glass from her mouth, “Cait’s lesson is for you to learn to openly talk about your feelings, and to stop you from bottling it all up while they slowly eat away at you.”

“Oh, how wonderful,” Leonard drawls, sighing as he leans back into the couch, “And what, feelings, are you hoping I’m going to spill?”

Frost shrugs, “That’s up to you. I’m not going to force you to talk, so we could sit here just drinking in silence. But I think we both know that you have things on your mind that you want to talk about.”

He raises an eyebrow at her and takes a slower sip of his drink. Of course he has things on his mind, they haven't gone away since this morning. He just doesn't know how to handle or process any of it and it makes him feel like he's going to explode. 

Bottling things up is something Leonard is all too familiar with. Even with Sara, who he’s comfortable talking to about most things, there are just some topics he simply doesn’t talk about because he doesn’t like remembering them, or the feelings associated with them. Looking at the bottle of the tequila on the table, the glass in his hand, and the best friend sitting beside him, he supposes that maybe he’ll talk about some of those things for the first time.

But first, he takes another sip of his drink, because he’s going to need some time to tear down those defences that have fortified themselves in his head for all these decades. 

For a while, they do sit in silence, consuming the drink at a slow and steady pace. She doesn’t pressure him or say anything to try and elicit a response out of him. All she does it fill up his little glass when he runs out. 

Eventually, after his fifth drink, he finally says something. 

“I’m going to miss all this.”

Caitlin, Frost, and Sara already know that. It’s been obvious that he’s going to miss it. But his admission here, is the first time he’s acknowledging that fact, and the first step to helping him get through it. 

“Defeating bad guys, keeping the city safe,” he sighs, “I guess even the people too.”

She looks at him with a sceptical expression, “You’re going to miss being recognised everywhere you go? Caity and Sara couldn’t go to the spa without people wanting to take pictures.”

He sighs again, and his mouth curls up at the side, “Okay, maybe I won’t miss that part, but it’s been nice to know that people actually, I don’t know, like me. I used to not give a crap about how my actions affected other people, but after all these years, I guess that changed.”

Ever since every hero’s identity was released to the public all those years ago, Leonard’s perspective on the people of the city had changed. He was resentful of the release, afraid that people would remember the killer and thief he used to be, shun him and cast him out. But they didn’t, at least most of them. Some people were still cautious and hesitant about the criminal-turned-vigilante, which was expected, but over time, those numbers dropped. 

Time carried on, and Leonard would find himself recognised as Captain Cold by random people in the city. It was daunting and overwhelming to him at first, being so recognised. They would come up for photos and autographs, and sometimes it was just people saying thank you for what he’s done. The last one really got to him. In a good way. 

It didn’t long after for the public to realise that Captain Cold and the White Canary were married. Leonard had no idea what to expect from that. He certainly didn’t expect the two of them to become one of the region’s most popular couples. As it turns out, people really enjoy crime-fighting couples.

He consumes another drink, taking a deep breath once it goes down his throat. 

“It wasn’t easy asking her if she wants to retire,” his voice breaks the silence hanging between them, “Definitely harder than asking her to marry me.”

The latter, he had plenty of confidence about. They’d be dating for almost two years by then, and they’d already formed an incredible dynamic. Marriage didn’t change their dynamic at all really because marrying Sara still involved them being the kind of people who ran across rooftops, got into brawls with thugs, and saved innocent people from harm. 

Proposing was both a surprise, and not a surprise. The fact he was going to propose wasn’t a surprise, because he had asked her if she wanted him to, to which she said yes. The actual proposal, where Barry and Caitlin helped him set it all up, was a surprise, and she loved it. 

Their wedding wasn’t grand or anything like the WestAllen one, which had been rudely interrupted by Nazis. Instead, they signed the papers and had one big party at S.T.A.R. Labs where everyone celebrated. Even Kara and Alex came by to join in. They didn’t change names. Sara was and always will be Sara Lance, just as Leonard was and always will be Leonard Snart. It simply wasn’t something either of them wanted, and he always liked the idea of their initials being opposites, SL and LS. 

But this. Retirement. That’s a big change in their dynamic. A lot of their life that is being put behind them in exchange for this more domesticated one.

“How did she respond?” Frost asks. 

“She was ecstatic,” he remembers, mind playing their conversation back in his head. 

When he brought up the suggestion for retirement, she had agreed in an overly joyous fashion, so he naturally assumed that she was completely into the idea of it. But at no point since that conversation, has he directly asked how she truly feels about the subject. 

Over the years, Sara had occasionally mentioned the idea of opening a martial arts place. It allows her to stay fit and active, but also gives the opportunity to keep herself occupied and pass on her knowledge and skills to people who are interested. Usually she mentions it in a throwaway manner, like a ‘what if we weren’t vigilantes’ kind of idea, but he’s never specifically asked if it is something she’d truly like to do once they retire. 

“I just wish I would have asked her under better circumstances,” he admits, “Where it didn’t feel like I was giving up.”

“You’re not giving up,” Frost’s voice is stern, “You’re making the smart decision. It’s better to end it now while your body still has a chance of recovering, rather than waiting another two years when it might too late for you.”

He shrugs, unconvinced. It will always feel a bit like giving up in his head, and it would take a lot for him to think otherwise. 

Frost’s cold hand lands on his leg, “You’re saving Sara the pain of watching you slowly die, pushing yourself to your limits before one day your body just can’t take it anymore and stops.”

His gaze shifts from the glass, to her hand, to her eyes. Icy white stares back at him, partially reflective and he can sort of make out how exhausted he looks. 

“I never thought of it like that.”

“Then what caused you to ask her to retire?”

“Because I was afraid of losing her.”

Leonard had always struggled to view how important he truly is to other people. It comes as a result from his father. Abusive words that always echo in the back of his mind. Insults that tell him he’s worthless, insignificant and will never mean anything to anyone. And for many years of his life, it was true for almost every person he knew. He could understand that he meant something important to Lisa, but part of him had always chalked it up to the fact he was her big brother. 

He is truly afraid of losing Sara, wanting to do everything he can to make sure she is okay. He knew that he was getting sloppier when it came down to taking out bad guys, but that didn’t really mean much to him. What meant a lot to him was the rate at which Sara was starting to slow down. She still remains graceful even to this day, but she’s not as fast as she once was, nor as nimble. Attacks that would have easily been dodged years ago are clipping her, and the dread that they’re only going to get worse scares him. 

What he doesn’t realise, is that Sara has been watching that exact same situation developing in front of her own eyes. 

Her touch is cold against his arm, “You think you may be cold and selfish, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You’ve been sacrificing yourself since you were looking after Lisa as a kid. Your entire life has involved making sacrifices that ensure the people you care about are safe and okay. It hasn’t stopped, and it is the most selfless part of your character.

“But you need to realise just what all these sacrifices mean to the people you’re trying to care for,” Frost continues, “You are just as important to Sara as she is to you. You classify all these sacrifices you make as negligible and simply necessary to make sure she’s okay, but they’re not to her. She hates seeing you get hurt just as much as I do.”

His breath catches in his throat, and he stares at her silently for a moments before he exhales. 

She takes her hand away and pours him another drink before passing it over. He takes it without hesitation, and downs it probably a bit too quick for his preferred liking. 

His head feels like it’s playing catch up. Every memory of these last few years being replayed, but this time with a different perspective. A perspective enlightened by the knowledge that Frost has given him. 

“You mean so much more to her than you think you do,” the icy voice is strikingly warm and gentle. 

One question sits in his mind. One question that he hasn’t got the faintest clue as to where to begin answering. 

“What did I do to deserve you and Sara?” The question is both rhetorical and genuine in a sense, more so trying to answer the question himself rather than her response. 

A smirk forms at her lips as she takes a sip of her own drink. 

“There was always a good guy somewhere inside you,” she taps his chest with a playful touch, not making it clear whether she was trying to answer his question, or simply telling him so. 

Leonard is a firm believer that life is unfair, and for a long time, he’s seen the unfairness as suffering and misery. What he now sees, is that the unfairness is a two-way street. Actions do not have equal responses. Life is inconsistent and varying, and sometimes the unfairness goes in your favour, and sometimes it doesn’t. Leonard feels like he’s been up and down the entire scale. 

They continue consuming glasses of the alcohol. Glass by glass, the bottle starts getting emptier and emptier. The room is quiet, but the window is open and a cool breeze occasionally comes in, carrying the sounds of the street below along with it. 

“Are you and Wally going to be alright with looking after the city?” he turns to her and asks, “All on your own.”

Team Flash numbers had been dropping over the years. Nora West-Allen had to return to her time before she was conceived, a result of a very serious and catastrophic paradox that Gideon warned them about. 

Then the multiverse suffered an attack at the hands of the Anti-Monitor, parallel universes destroyed, or isolated from the rest of the multiverse. Cisco was called upon by the organisation of Breachers to help repair the multiverse from the attack, and his time has been preoccupied ever since. 

Then Iris fell pregnant as expected, and had to leave the team to look after herself and the baby. 

April 25th, 2024 eventually arrived. Times were tense in the months leading up to that event. Everyone had been so used to fact time was malleable, but with so much indicating that this one event couldn’t be altered, everyone was concerned for the future of Barry. They thought bringing in different people than those listed on the newspaper would help, and maybe it did. Maybe the damage in the ensuing fight was reduced by the added numbers, but it didn’t change the critical outcome. Barry was gone. 

It was a heavy loss for all the teams. 

Ralph left by the end of that year, moving to another city while Wally took the mantle of the Flash. 

By 2025, Team Flash consisted of Wally, Caitlin, Leonard and Sara. The former two would typically handle the emergencies and crimes in progress. The latter two would handle the underlying issues in the city. Find out what is causing trouble, do some investigation work with the police and then hone in on the arrest. 

But now Team Flash was being severed in half, and it made him feel a bit guilty that he was leaving so much to just Caitlin and Wally. 

Frost shrugs, “I think we’ll be okay. Mardon came by a few weeks ago. He said he’s looking for Penance, and that his daughter suggested he use his powers for good. It’ll take some time, but with him on board, we might be alright.”

The Weather Wizard and his daughter Joss had decided to give each other a chance. It was rough for a while, and Wally had to stop a fair few freak weather events from messing with the city, but Mardon eventually came through with enough perseverance. Joss had already been an interim member of Team Flash for over a year, after she served her time, and had proven herself valuable. 

Snart watched the Mardon father and daughter often when they were around. Watching Mark, someone who was once very similar to Snart, form a bond with his estranged daughter had been interesting to witness, and part of him was satisfied to know that Mark was changing his ways as Leonard had. 

Leonard’s mind lingered on those thoughts. With Mardon being able to completely change his ways and become the man his daughter needed him to be, and the situation with Ray and Nora having their child soon, Leonard couldn’t get this idea out of his head. 

He needed to know. 

“Do you think I could be a good father?”

His words freeze Frost in place, her eyes go wide, and she looks at him to make sure he said what she thought she heard him say. Yep. She heard correctly. 

“Uh,” she gulps and places her glass on the coffee table in front of them, “I’m a bit clueless on parenthood. Would you prefer Caity for this?”

He shrugs, “Both?”

She nods, and shortly after, clumps of hair strands start turning back to auburn. Her hair is an elegant mixture of ice and fire, long and flawless down past her shoulders. 

“Do you think you could be a good father?” Caitlin counters, emphasis on the importance of his response.

“I don’t know. I haven’t had that kind of responsibility in over three decades,” he responds, “Not since I raised Lisa.”

“You’ve grown a lot in those three decades. You’re an entirely different person now than you were one decade ago, let alone three,” Caitlin says, “You have compassion that was never there all those years ago. And you’re not running from your father either.”

He can’t argue with that. The only reason he had to raise Lisa was that of his father, and in part to his absentee mother, but it mostly his father. Lewis certainly wasn’t going to help her grow. 

Leonard tried at least, to help them get by when he could barely cover his own ass. He made a lot of mistakes, especially when it came to keeping Lisa out of the thieving lifestyle. He definitely didn’t know how to handle her as a moody teenager, and that led to more mistakes on his behalf. Sometimes he was more neglectful than he should have been, other times he was too intrusive and controlling. 

“I don’t know if I can be the kind of man a kid needs from a father,” Leonard admits. 

Doubting himself has always come naturally in response to this topic. He had always believed that you take after example, and it was the fear that he would take after his own father that caused him to be so doubtful. It’s not as if he ever really gave himself the chance to convince himself otherwise either.

Caitlin rests a gentle hand on his, wrapping her fingers and giving him a soft squeeze, “A child’s need are vast and varying, and it’s impossible to be everything they need you to be. Raising a child isn’t like a heist, where you can plan out everything, create contingencies if something goes wrong, and determine all the necessary skills for the mission. Sometimes you do it right, and sometimes you do it wrong. But there is one thing that every child needs from their father.”

“What?” his voice is an eager whisper.

She smiles and squeezes his hand again, “The best you can do.”

Normally, vague and nonspecific answers would confuse Leonard or leave him unsatisfied, but somehow, this one doesn’t. There is no recipe, or blueprint for raising a child. There are obviously tips and recommendations for general purposes, but there will always be a situation where there is nothing to guide you, and the only thing you can do in that moment is what you think is right. 

“Look at Mardon. Look at how far he’s come with his own daughter, one that he abandoned before she was born. Joss doesn’t need him to be perfect, she just needs him to do his best, and he’s trying. You can do that too,” Caitlin’s smile is warm, and he can hear a bit of Frost in her voice saying it with her. 

“But.”

And then her smile fades, and Leonard’s heart plummets inside him as his brain goes into overdrive, assumptions and guesses about what she is about to say flood his mind. 

“As your doctor, it is my obligation to tell this now,” Caitlin’s face turns serious, and he watches as Frost slinks away and allows the doctor to fully come out, “Your first priority should be letting your body heal and recover.”

Leonard nods, “Yeah, yeah. I figured that, but I was just thinking about after.”

“That brings me onto my second point,” Caitlin’s voice remains serious, and he watches with concern, “You and Sara,” she sighs, trying to find the best way to put it, “should not conceive a child.”

“What?” Leonard’s jaw drops, and after that one word he manages to get out, he’s stunned. 

“It’s not safe. Not at your age,” Caitlin places her other hand on his arm and squeezes him in assurance, “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a child. You can always be a foster father, but it’s not safe for natural conception. The risks are too great, and the chance of a miscarriage will only be higher by the time your body heals.”

Oh. 

His heart stops thumping loudly in his chest, slowing down from the anxiety that had built up so quickly. 

“Yeah, um,” he rubs a hand over his tired face, “I see.”

“I’m sorry,” Caitlin rubs his arm with a sympathetic smile, “But I don’t want either of you to have to go through something terrible like that.”

He thanks her. Trying to describe how appreciative he is of everything Caitlin has done for him, is something he can’t even begin to accomplish. She has always done everything with the best of intentions for him and Sara, and this matter is no exception. He can’t imagine how devastating it would have been for him and Sara if something had gone wrong during the pregnancy, and the last thing he wants to do is put her in a place where the risk of that happening is too great. 

Adoption sits easily with him. He doesn’t mind the idea of it. When things were bleak with his father in his prison, and he was having to look after Lisa by himself, there was a time where their grandfather took them in. It was as if he adopted them and provided them with something nice. Leonard considers the idea of being able to do something like that for someone else, and there’s confidence that Sara would like the idea too.

Images, his brain’s imagination taking hold, form in his head as he pictures what it could be like for him and Sara. Maybe when his body is recovered, he can talk to Sara about it.

Leonard lets out an emotionally exhausted sigh and slouches forward. He has to support his head with his hand as he closes his eyes and sits in silence. Caitlin’s cool hand rubs up and down his back gently while he tries to process everything. 

Emotions have overloaded him. Far more than he thought they would today. His mind’s world has been rewritten and torn down multiple times today and it’s fucking drained him to the point where he’s ready to fall asleep. 

“Thank you,” words muffled by the hands covering his face. 

The words of appreciation are not directed at just one topic, but this entire experience as a whole. He’s said things tonight that he’s never imagined he would ever discuss. He’s learnt things that have never crossed his mind before. He’s comprehended emotions that were once so foreign to him. 

He can’t thank her enough. He is forever in her debt, since the moment he was dumped back into 2019. Regaining a sense of control over his life again, being able to form a friendship with Sara once again, and then being able to turn that friendship into something, is all as a result of Caitlin’s input in his life. 

“What are best friends for?” she bumps his shoulder gently and lets out a small giggle, “Now, you look like you’re about to pass out. Come on.”

She wraps one of his arms around her shoulder and with a short countdown, she helps him rise to his feet. 

Drunk, weak-legged, and emotionally exhausted, results in him having to transfer a lot of his weight onto Snow. Slowly and steadily, they reach his bed and unlike last night, this doesn’t bring about a sense of anger and frustration with himself. He supposes that being carried to bed drunk is probably better than the circumstances of last night with Sara. 

“I’ll get you a glass of water,” she says, letting him set himself up on the bed while she goes into the kitchen. 

She returns moments later with a chilled glass of water.

“You’re probably going to feel like crap tomorrow,” a grin is on her face as she stands at the foot of his bed, “I’ll come around with something in the morning to help with that.”

He nods, finishes his drink and closes his eyes as he leans back. 

“Thank you,” he repeats, “for helping me live a second life.”

He doesn’t see the serious look on her face that flashes over for a second. 

It shifts back into a smile, “Be safe tomorrow. Please.”

He nods again and repositions himself so he’s lying down on the bed. With a loud yawn, he wraps a thin blanket over his body and he falls asleep moments later. 

She watches, satisfying her concern that he’s somehow okay. She knows this week has been one of, or the, toughest week he has ever experienced. Caitlin had not expected some of the topics he would bring up, but she is truly glad that she was able to provide him the opportunity to feel free enough to talk about them. 

Mist forms around her hand, with a soft exhale, she creates a cool blanket of air around him, knowing that he always sleeps better when it’s cool. It’s the least she can do. 

Caitlin is just about to leave, having picked up the almost empty bottle of alcohol when the door clicks open and Sara walks in. 

The blonde looks at the doctor and then around the room for signs of her husband. With a small gesture of her head towards the bedroom, Caitlin answers Sara’s unspoken question. 

“How is he?” Sara asks, dropping herself onto the couch, patting the cushion beside her for Caitlin to sit back down. 

“He’s better,” Caitlin nods, returning to the couch, “He had a lot to say.”

A disappointed look forms on Sara’s face. 

“Hey,” Caitlin’s hand reaches out to Sara’s, “It’s not your fault that he doesn’t talk about these kinds of emotions. He’s never tried to deal with these emotions before, and it’s only because you talked to him this morning that he built up the courage to say anything to me.”

Sara sighs and then lets out a small chuckle, “God Caitlin. I swear you’re like our personal therapist.”

Sara means it in a good way. Truly. 

When a couple involves a resurrected former assassin and time traveller, and a former criminal with a fucked up childhood, both of whom have had shitty experiences in dealing with emotions and feelings, sometimes having Caitlin as their couple’s therapist is the only way they can find a way of working together. 

Sara grabs the bottle, pours the remainder of the drink evenly between the two glasses and hands one over to Caitlin. 

“Cheers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I write these chapters, I start off in black font for the first draft. And then go back with red when I make changes or rewrite sections. By the time I finished rewriting this chapter, it was over 90% red font because I changed it drastically from what it originally was about. 
> 
> Originally, there were two parts to this chapter, which in total made about 4400 words, but I've had to detach the second half and put it into the next chapter because of how long I made this one. 
> 
> The next chapter is going to be the romantic one for Captain Canary. And then we finally move onto their final mission.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this. Kudos and comments are much appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you, you're finally awake.
> 
> A big Chapter 9 for you guys, from a tired man. A bit over 7300 words, because once again I let myself get carried with building lore when trying to tell romance.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. The final act is coming up next.

*December 31st 2020*

“Sara?” Caitlin was startled to see the blonde walking up behind her in the reflection of the monitor, “I thought you were at the Time Bureau’s, New Year’s Party.

“And I thought you would be with the others at the West’s?” Sara countered as she approached the other side of the desk and leant against the railing.  
Caitlin pressed her lips together and shook her head, “Unfortunately criminals don’t share the same holiday traditions. Someone has to keep watch for holiday crashers.”

“Lance, is that you?” Leonard’s voice came over the speaker from the terminal.  
Sara was momentarily surprised at the invisible voice, then peered over the monitor to see Leonard’s GPS coordinates and an open comms line, “Hi. I didn’t realise you were out patrolling tonight.”  
“Needed some air,” Leonard coldly replied, unusual and unexpected for Sara. 

Caitlin briefly muted the comms line and explained to Sara that earlier this week, Leonard had run into a friend of his fathers. One of the friends that used to accompany his father on the heists that Leonard would be dragged into when he was younger. This friend was also one of the ones who had played a part in making Leonard’s childhood hell, sabotaging Leonard’s role in the plan, making him look bad in front of his father. It’s obvious how his father responded to his son’s fuck ups. 

Leonard had been in a sour mood since and looking for something to punch. Which is why he was eager to accept patrolling duties for New Year’s Eve whilst the rest of the team celebrated. He didn’t mind missing the party. 

Sara offered to help, she needed the distraction herself anyway. Just as she was about to leave, Caitlin stopped her and reached under the desk to pull out a box with a thin purple ribbon wrapped around it. 

“Ray told us you guys were busy for Christmas, which I know was also your birthday, so I’ve been holding onto this until you were available,” Caitlin stood up and walked up to Sara and handed over the box.  
Sara beamed a wide smile and took the box graciously, “Thank you, Caitlin.”

Sara put the box on the table beside the computer and pulled the ribbon apart, lifting the cover of the box to reveal the present inside. She looked at it curiously. It was two metal batons, not that different to the ones she currently uses. Slowly reaching into the box, she wrapped her hands around the hilts and pulled them out, giving them a small swing to extend them. 

They felt different, still comfortable to swing as she twirled them in her hand, but she wasn’t sure what so different about them. There was a noticeable increase in the thickness of the base, but that was about the only physical difference she could identify at first glance. 

Caitlin could see the interest on the captain’s face, “We got the idea from Cicada and all the meta tech. With technology being able to have its own unique powers like metas, Cisco and I spent the last year trying to completely understand it and learn how to develop and customise it for ourselves. Figured it was a good idea to improve our own arsenal if the bad guys were improving as well.”

For a few moments, Sara was silent, as if she didn’t understand, then there was a visible shift in her expression, eyes widening with realisation, “Wait. Are you saying that these are-”  
“Batons that have powers,” Caitlin did a little bounce in her chair as she answered, “Yep! Inside the expanding tube of the batons is some dark matter infused metal that generates the abilities.”

“Holy crap,” Sara starred in awe at the batons in her hand, “Aw Caitlin!” 

The doctor was not expecting to be lunged at, and was almost knocked over by the force at which Sara wrapped her arms around the doctor. 

“They really have powers?” Sara asked, still in disbelief.  
Caitlin nods, “Yep. Head out and I’ll explain on your way to Len.”

Sara practically bounded out of the labs with a grin on her face, swinging the batons around her like a child playing with a toy on their birthday. Which is pretty much how it is, considering it is a combined Christmas and Birthday present. 

Caitlin had to inform her that most of the work put into this weapon was done by Cisco, and that all the doctor did was ensure that the dark matter wouldn’t have any side effects from extended use. 

Fortunately, Cisco left a list of what batons can do for Caitlin to read out. 

The dark matter infused metal had been designed to conduct electricity by command, which sparked opportunity for some interesting abilities. Each strike would contain an electrical charge that shocks opponents, with each kinetic blow increasing that electrical charge. The batons could also be collided together to release a powerful blast in a concentrated direction. The list carried on with different ways they could be utilised. 

To say Sara was ecstatic would be understating it. Very few things got her truly excited, but kickass weapons were one of those, and she was stoked. Sara was so caught up in these weapons that she could almost forget the reason why she was out here. Almost. Yet, the weapons did an excellent job of lifting her mood.

Snart was sitting comfortably on the edge of a roof, looking out towards the city centre where a large congregation of people were gathered in preparation for midnight. It was currently 10:37 pm, not far off from the midnight fireworks and celebrations.

He may have looked comfortable, but as Sara approached from behind, she could see the tension in him and the silent loathing that was residing through him. The thin layer of snow crunched under her feet, alerting him to her presence, but he didn’t turn around. Instead, used the sleeve of his parka to wipe away a pile of the built-up snow beside him.

“Thanks,” Sara said as she sat down beside him, letting her legs dangle off the edge of the building.  
“Thought you were at a party,” Leonard looked at her briefly, his face covered by the goggles of his outfit and slightly obscured by the hoodie of his parka.  
She shrugged, “Decided not to go. What’s that,” she pointed to the weird looking glove on his right hand.”

Snart lifted it up so it was easier to see in the dim light around them, “A Christmas present from Team Flash. Said it was to shut me up.”  
Sara laughed, and a smirk appeared on her face, “What were you harassing them about this time?”

“Ramon refused to rebuild a cold gun, leaving me with the broken prototype all year since Frost can do what the cold gun does but better,” Snart holds his hand between them, “Turns out he was working on this for most of that time.”

“What is it?” 

Upon closer inspection, it seems like an odd glove. She thinks that it originally started out as a ski-glove, but there have been modifications made that change the way it looks. The palm of the glove, where a grippy texture would normally be, is infused with a sleek metallic plate. It appears partially flexible, but also sturdy and durable. 

From the glove, protrudes two metal strips that go halfway up his forearm on the upper and underside. 

“The power of the cold, in the palm of my hand,” Leonard jokes, the glove beginning to ice up. 

The metal strips along his arm start humming, and she can feel them immediately go warm. She wonders if it burns him. 

“It doesn’t hurt,” he answers the silent question he can see on her face, “Bit uncomfortable, but it’s the only thing that stops this glove from freezing my entire hand. I’d rather not lose my hand again if I can help it. The heat keeps the ice contained to the glove.”

Sara does a double take between the glove and his calm expression. His goggles make it impossible to see his eyes, but she bets they’re about as, casual, as the rest of his face. 

“How do you sound so calm when talking about a glove that could freeze your hand off?” she stares at his relaxed face with wonder, “I don’t think I’d take that chance, even if I knew Gideon could repair it.” 

His lips curl to the side and he places his hand back down on the snow, “It may not seem like it, but I trust Ramon. Besides, this is just a prototype that I get to try out for a week. He has more ideas that he’d like to implement, and a more comfortable way of ensuring my hand doesn’t freeze off.”

Sara nods and their conversation ends, a comfortable silence filling the air as they watch the sights. Leonard knew how to pick vantage points, not just practical ones, but scenic ones too. She could see dozens of alleys where criminals could try and do something in, but also see the large digital display of the timer that counted down to midnight. 

“So are you going to stop changing the subject every time someone asks why you’re not at the party?” Leonard broke the silence after a few minutes, “Your attempt at deflection was pretty obvious.”

Sara took a deep breath in before tilting her head back, “Ava and I broke up. It was, amicable, but I didn’t want to things to be weird at the party.”

“So you travelled across the states, all the way to Central City, huh?” Snart leant back, hands propped behind him as he stretched his neck to the left and right, “You wanna vent? I don’t mind.”

She glances over at Leonard and looks at the side of his head with an inquisitive purpose. He remains calm, but she can see that he does have an interest and is willing to let her speak her mind without judgment. It’s one of the many reasons she likes him so much. God. Sara thanks whatever is out there that he didn’t get psychic powers.

“You know how I said we were spending less time together because our lives were getting really busy,” Sara waits for his hum of acknowledgement, “Well our time together got lesser and lesser.”

As Sara explains, the meetings with the DoD about the future of A.R.G.U.S. were quite strenuous on the Time Bureau. Every resource excluding the Waverider, were repurposed to analysing everything about the A.R.G.U.S. takeover of the country. But the whole ordeal was never as simple as finding the linchpin and preventing it from setting off the chain reaction. 

The Waverider were left with their own issues. A group of time travelling aliens started messing around with history. Abducting random individuals out of history and making slight changes that eventually stack up and cripple the world economy. A situation which conflicted with the A.R.G.U.S. prevention efforts of the Time Bureau. 

All the while, the Waverider crew still needed to find a way of ensuring Zari’s existence and making sure that these efforts wouldn’t erase her from history. 

Searching all across time for any possible information brought them back to a place Ray, Mick and Sara thought they’d never return to. 

The Refuge. 

Leonard chuckles, “Ah, nothing quite like abducting your former self from a time assassin. I spoke to Kendra last week. Told me an interesting story about that mission,” he glances over to Sara, smirking at the embarrassed smile she returns, “I resent being considered the cutest baby in the world.”

“You had such perfect little cheeks though,” Sara argues, in a tone similar to what she gave his baby self.

Leonard hums and brushes a finger down one of the scars across his right cheek, “Yeah, that didn’t last.”

Sara doesn’t comment. She won’t admit that she finds those scars more telling of who he is than the cute baby cheeks he once had. 

“I got us distracted,” he apologies, “You were saying that you returned to the Refuge?”

“Yes,” Sara snapped her fingers as she remembered what she had been saying, “Apparently, the Time Masters had learnt how to, detach, someone from the timeline,” she sees a curious look form on his face, “It means that when the timeline changes, you don’t get affected. Turns out it’s really useful, and important, for Time Masters because it reduces the chances of paradoxes, and makes it easier to detect when a change from the norm does occur.”

“Well that seems like it would have been useful when the Legends first broke time and reality,” Leonard remarks, a taunting grin on his face. 

Sara sighs, like she always does when she remembers how bad they all messed up, “Maybe. Interacting with one’s past self is still dangerous, even when detached from the timeline. Anyway, we thought our problem was solved. We had a solution, and all would be done. But nope. We almost had to break time to make it work.”

Ray had an analogy for this insane situation. Time was like a heavily encrypted computer system, but with a flaw that can be abused to gain special admin privileges. Disconnecting one’s self from the timeline was the equivalent of becoming an admin. What was required of them, was like forcing the security system within the computer into a crash, which opens a microscopic window to slip past the defences, then rewrite the code to gain admin access. Once the code is rewritten, the system boots back up and treats the new individual as an admin. 

Very dangerous, for the simple fact that this entire process needs to be done in less than a single second. Forcing time to crash and reboot is as dangerous and absurd as it sounds.

“It’s actually your fault that we almost couldn’t do it,” Sara bumps his shoulder softly. 

She can tell he’s squinting by the muscles around the goggles, “Please tell me what I did wrong this time,” his tone slightly intrigued and amused. 

“You blew up the Oculus,” she says teasingly, making it sound like it was the obvious answer, “Which could control time, which is how the Time Masters were able to replicate this event as much as they wanted.”

“Well, fuck me,” he makes an exaggerated groan, “Consider that the last time I’m ever going to do something selfless to save the universe. Wouldn’t want to screw anything up for something four years down the track.”

A hearty laugh escapes Sara, as Leonard continues to ramble on in an overdramatic fashion about how he’ll never do anything selfless in his entire life. She can’t stop herself, and even after he finishes his rant with a faux pout, she’s still caught up in the laughter. 

He could hear that sound all day and it wouldn’t sound any less amazing to his ears. His head is turned partially towards her, not looking directly at her, but enough that he can see the beauty of a teeth-showing laugh on her. 

The laugh eventually recedes back, and the doleful look returns on her face.

Sara explains that the plan worked and that Zari was safe, but during all the chaos, Ava and Sara had drifted apart. Phone calls would be shorter and less engaging, any kind of date between them practically stopped occurring, and when they tried to rekindle things after the chaos settled down, there was just nothing happening between them. All that passion had been lost. They still cared about each other greatly, but it wasn’t enough to stop every moment together from feeling like a forced attempt at making their relationship work out. 

In the end, they decided that forcing themselves to feel things that aren’t there wasn’t good for them. It was about a month ago when they reached that decision.

Sara falls silent, and Leonard does a small nod to indicate he’s listened. She finds herself without anything to say and follows Leonard’s gaze out to the view of the city from their rooftop. The little voice in her head tries to convince her to shift closer, but she silences it and focuses on the bustling energy of the city. 

Sara’s been trying to keep herself busy since the breakup, taking any and all anachronism that she find, but there was always something in the back of her head calling her towards Central City. Which is the real reason why she’s chosen to be here instead of at the party. 

In the month following the painting heist, and before the Waverider’s mission was approved to begin, Sara realised that most of her time was spent in Central City. Always around the company of two particular people. Leonard and Caitlin. Whenever she felt lonely or anything was bothering her or on her mind, they were the two people she sought out most. Fortunately for her, they don’t deal with much more than a weekly meta villain, so there was always a good chance at least one of them was available for a drink or chat. 

And part of Sara, the part that she wished she could keep under control, had begun developing feelings of sorts for him again. Feelings that she first realised existed when it started feeling like she was having to tear herself away from him after they conclude a mission. Naturally, they worked well together, and the synergy between them was unlike anything she had experienced with anybody else. During those fights, it was just them against the enemy and for Sara, it felt right.

There was just so much about him and the way he did things that attracted her to him. His smarts and snarky attitude were something she didn’t realise she missed about his presence until she was back on the Waverider, commanding her crew and not hearing smartass retorts coming from the corner. He always made her think harder than she normally does, take extra time to process and consider alternate paths and strategies. 

Freeform improvisation with maybe a rough idea of a plan about five minutes before go-time, was the Legends way of handling problem. And whilst she doesn’t deny it is fun and exciting, being the captain, where everything that happens to the crew is on her shoulders, doesn’t detract from the stress and pressure that each decision comes with. 

So she tried to do things a little differently. This little voice in her head would always ask the same question when a new problem comes up. 

What would Snart do?

It was never going to be a perfect solution to the chaos that is the Legends, but it gave a bit more structure and confidence in their plans that wasn’t there before. And that, was enough for her to see value in it. 

In addition to enjoying his company when she’s in Central City, the crime prevention and meta takedowns didn’t feel like the chores of fixing anachronism. All those anachronisms came from the Legends’ multiple fuck ups, and each time they try and fix it, it’s always in the back of her head that she’s responsible for it happening. With the metas and random thugs looking to make a quick buck, she doesn’t feel that guilt, because she knows that it wasn’t her fault that these crimes happen. 

And because of that, it was addicting, consuming her thoughts most of the time, and she’d frequently find herself pondering over the what ifs. What if Leonard joined them again? What if she left and decided to stay in Central City? What if it was just her and Leonard?

She knew shouldn’t be thinking like that, and it took a lot for her to reel those thoughts in and keep them at bay. Here’s her and Ava trying to hold onto the remainder of their relationship, yet she’s also imagining herself with another person. It felt wrong, especially since Leonard and Caitlin were together. She was happy for them, and liked the relationship the icy couple had formed.

If she was being truthful, she was jealous of it. She already knew she was falling for Leonard again, but deep down, there was a part of her that had to admit that she was kinda crushing on the doctor too. Hell, she’d probably be happy to fall for them both at the same time. It’d be kinda hot, she thinks, or freezing if her mind was feeling up to making the joke. 

Ava and Sara may as well have been broken up for weeks before they found the time to discuss it personally and call it off. And during those weeks, the feelings for the male cold vigilante had grown in intensity. Feelings that she wasn’t sure she could really handle. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her watching him, an unclear look in hers.

“You’re not the only single this New Year’s,” Leonard tilted his head to look at her.  
“Huh?” Sara looked at with surprise, “But you and Cait-”

“Have been off for months now,” he cuts in, “In truth, it was always a casual thing between the three of us. Helped me get settled back into this new life, and helped Caitlin and Frost get over their father. It was fun,” he chuckled lightly, “Don’t get me wrong. But nothing was ever going to come of it. Not in the long run.”

“And everything’s fine between you guys?” Sara asks, trying to distract herself from the rising heartbeat in her chest. 

Part of her feels guilty for being so relieved at hearing the news, but also slightly disheartened to hear it come to an end. 

Leonard pressed his lips together and rocked his head side to side, his gaze directed out towards the city below, “Frost didn’t like the idea. Savitar, future psycho Barry whatever, used her like a toy. Messed with her head and feelings. I didn’t, so she felt like she could open up to someone besides Caitlin. But now that it’s over, she’s afraid that she’ll never find someone else who can handle a relationship with two people in one body, the same way I could.”

Sara nods quietly, forcing herself to look away from him. A desire to rip off his goggles and see his eyes starts poking around in her head. Instead, she opts for sliding closer to him and follows his gaze to one of the skyscrapers in the distance creating an image out of the lights of the office windows in celebration. 

“Do you still live together?” she asks innocently.  
He hums, “But it’s like being roommates now.”

The wind picks up, and Sara starts to wonder why she hasn’t created a winter suit for her Canary outfit, because sitting so high up and exposed to the frosty wind is chilling her body. She visibly shivers as she tucks her legs to her chest. 

Snart’s already lying back on the snow, moved back from the edge of the roof and stretched out. He hears her move beside him, opening his eyes briefly to see through his tinted goggles and watches her try to curl up for heat. 

He forces himself to sit up, unzipping his large parka and shrugging it off, “Here, take it,” he sticks his hand out to the blonde, the parka clenched in a fist.  
“No, no,” she shrugs her head persistently, “I’ll be fine,” she lies and even with the goggles, can see his eyebrows raise.

Sara is met with a silence, his hand unmoving, and ultimately unconvinced by her false assurance. She concedes and accepts it, dozens of thoughts immediately popping into her mind. She thinks about asking him to huddle together for warmth, but she doesn’t. 

“What about you?” she asks, looking up at him from it.  
He waves a dismissive hand, “Let’s just say that spending the last year with someone whose body temperature is cold as ice, helps build a tolerance to a bit of chilly air like this.”

He grins and with that, her guilt fades. She tries not to think too much into it. Leonard’s a logical person, and he has solid arguments for why she needs it over him. Just like when they were freezing in the engine room on the Waverider. His larger body mass meant he could store more heat than her. Perfectly logical. 

Doesn’t stop her from thinking about other reasons why he’s insisting she wears it. She wraps herself up in the parka, her arms barely making it out of the sleeve at the other end. It’s bigger than his old one, heavier due to the threaded padding for armour. She finds herself feeling like a child again, where she would purposely make herself feel cold so she could relish in the warmth of being wrapped in large duvets. 

The hoodie is snuggly and cosy too, and she flicks it over her head, only to find that it falls beyond her eyes, requiring her to push it back slightly. 

There’s, ideas, going through her head. Fantasies, more accurately. Part of her imagines that it’s him directly providing the warmth instead of just his parka. Another part of her imagines that they’re together elsewhere, somewhere warm, sitting and talking whilst they wait for midnight to strike. There’s another fantasy there that tries not to focus on. 

Instead she tries to wrap herself in the parka tighter, although the smell of him that lingers within the fabric that surrounds her doesn’t help either. It penetrates her mind, ingraining itself into her memory. She doesn’t speak, partly because she doesn’t trust herself to say anything but the desires going through her head, so other than the occasional check-up on crime to Caitlin, they sit in silence. 

Snart wasn’t over-exaggerating it when he said he got used to the cold, so he had no problem at all in letting the captain wear his parka. He remembers the Waverider, the last time he had to give her the piece of clothing for warmth. It’s different now, obviously. For one, they’re not in a life-threatening situation while they wait to be rescued.

As for the second point, he didn’t have feelings for her back then. Or at least, feelings that were significantly lesser than the ones he has right now. He doesn’t tell her, but he’d been craving her presence these last few months. Frequently asking Cisco to see how the Legends are going, always under the guise of wanting to check on Mick, which isn’t a lie, just not his primary intention. 

From that night when they stole the painting, he realised that the feelings he had for her, the ones lingering from his time on the Waverider, had never truly gone away. It had been many weeks after their confrontation on the Waverider by the time he reigned in those feelings, but even that wasn’t enough for him to truly get over them whenever he saw her. 

Those feelings he tried to block from his mind, were of the old Lance who kissed him at the Oculus, and it’s why he was frequently avoiding her back then. But it wasn’t until Caitlin had suggested that he and Lance start anew, when he could finally move past those old feelings and stop seeing her as he remembered. And it wasn’t until their first mission together when new feelings for the Lance she is today, started emerging. 

Although at that point, he was still with Caitlin, and her with Ava, so he made it a point to not linger on it. But it didn’t stop them from developing over the month. There was more light in her than there once was. No longer just some lost assassin trying to find her place in the world, but a captain who had found her place in saving history. The captain who had formed a rag-tag family with his old partner, the boy scout, and would do absolutely anything in her power to save them and the rest of their family. 

She’s powerful, fearless, and except for that one mission where, maybe, she got a bit cocky and almost cost the mission, they’re amazing qualities that only draw him closer to her. But the one thing that prevented him from doing anything about those feelings was the fact that she was in a relationship during all of that. 

Here they are, both single, both unknowingly attracted to each other, and in such close proximity to each other. Leonard is surprised with himself that he hasn’t made any kind of advancement on her. 

The comm’s chirp open in their ears, the noise shattering the individual reveries they were both living in. 

“Just got an alert from a security camera outside a jewellery store. Robbery in progress. Pinging it to Len’s HUD now,” Caitlin’s informs.  
“Thanks, Cait, we’ll be there asap,” Sara stands up quickly, finger pressed to her ear. 

“It seems instead of a midnight kiss, these guys want to break into a store,” Caitlin jokes as she feeds the address into the display on Leonard’s goggles. 

It’s as Sara checks her phone that realises it’s 11:53 pm. She didn’t realise how long they had been sitting in silence.

With the address confirmed, she unzips his parka from her and gives it back with a nod. He slides himself into it and steps up to the ledge of the building, pulling back his right sleeve and clenching his gloved hand. 

“Frost taught me this. Haven’t figured out how the best way to keep momentum, but I know how to get down buildings,” Leonard peers over the edge of the building and puts out his hand.

Sara’s never been on an ice slide before. Always a first for everything. 

They make it in five minutes, appearing at the end of the alley as they see the dozen thugs going in and out of an open shutter. Yelling and crashing can be heard as they approach. 

Sara whips out her batons, tapping them together and watching as the powered arcs spark between the rods. Leonard smirks at her, sends a little wink and forms a snowball in his hand, then proceeds to peg it at the first thug. 

Over the course of the next minute and a half, it’s an interesting fight to say the least for the two of them. They work in tandem, their fighting styles complimenting each other as Leonard forms a barrier of ice to block off an incoming attack against Lance, and she fires off an electrical burst which stuns a guy who was just about to tackle him. 

Leonard fires off a stream of cold energy at one of the thugs, as Sara throws one arcing baton through the beam, hitting a thug on the other side. When the lightning combined with the stream of cold energy, there was beauty in the way the two shades of blue combined, a bright aura radiating from the stream like a Christmas light. 

With speed and efficiency, they take down the rest of the thugs. 

Snart taps his finger to his ear and activates the comms, “All done Snow,” he checks the clock on his HUD, “and would you look at that. Still got 30 seconds before the New Year.”  
“I’m sure the police will appreciate the New Year’s gift Len,” Caitlin laughs over the comms, “Good job guys. I’ll let you know if something comes up,” she shifts the comms to a private link with Leonard, “have fun.”

He rolls his eyes, thankful Lance can’t see him do it. He turns to the captain, nodding to each other and proceed to exit the alley, returning to the street. They turn in the direction of the city centre, and from their position, they can see the large digital timer which is continuing to count down. 14, 13, 12. 

Snart pulls off his goggles, stuffing them into his pocket as he looks up at the timer, “Got ideas for a New Year’s resolutions?”  
Sara shrugs, her attention also focused on the timer, but she does notice his presence appear beside her, “I like to make change in my own time.”

He lets out a small laugh. 9, 8, 7. Voices start growing louder from the city centre.

Sara turns her head to him, and her smile is warm as she sees the smile on his lips. His eyes turn to her first, heading lagging a second behind. 

“Been an interesting year for you and me,” Leonard drawls. 

6, 5. 

“It has,” Sara nods, her teeth biting down on her bottom as she tries not to lose herself in his eyes. 

The sound of the city grows louder as the resounding cheers of the people find their voice. 

Snart’s gloved hand brushes against the captain’s face, pushing back some of her hair that had fallen over her face. 

Sara tries to control her breathing, but something about the feel of his cold glove sends not just shivers down her body, but also makes it harder to breathe. Breathing suddenly just became even more complicated when Leonard leaned forward and captured her lips with his. 

The city continues to roar as the countdown reaches zero and the sizzle of fireworks launch into the air before exploding above the city. But it’s all in the background for these two, as the only thing they’re focusing on is the taste of each other’s lips, and the hands that are keeping them pressed against each other. 

Every single fantasy about moments like this is pushed away in Sara’s mind, because this is reality, and it turns out to be better than she expected. Not only is she high on adrenaline from the fight in the alley, but she’s getting high on Leonard. His taste, his smell, his touch. For a highly trained assassin, she finds herself overwhelmed by the senses, and yet, she doesn’t worry because it feels so right. 

He’s the first to pull away, his crystal blue eyes linger on hers before flicking up to the timer in the background which had changed to read ‘Happy New Year’s!’

“Happy New Year’s, Sara,” Leonard drawls, his gloved hand still cupping her cheek while his other is gentle against her hip.  
A devilish grin forms on her face, “You’re a damn good thief.”

She doesn’t hesitate to steal one back.

XXX

*July 2025*

It took a special occasion for them to have a night together at a fancy restaurant. Leonard had the reservation booked for weeks leading up to tonight. He also had to get a brand-new suit, considering his old one had been damaged during an undercover mission that went wrong at a charity event. A dark navy jacket over the white undershirt with a matching tie. 

Sara was in an elegantly beautiful, emerald coloured dress. A thin strip of fabric that hooked it around her neck, sleeveless as it trailed down her body to a side split along her left leg. Making it to the restaurant had proved difficult, as the moment she stepped out of the bedroom wearing it, he wanted to just keep her in for the night. Her purse sat in front of her on the table as they sipped on their drinks, waiting for the food to arrive. 

Leonard’s bands, the ones that extend into his icy gloves, sat firmly around his wrists, conveniently able to also display the time. Gentle music played in the background, a lone piano in the centre of the far wall playing a tune. 

Their food arrived, and for the next twenty minutes as they ate and shared drinks at the table. They got to experience what it was like to be a non-vigilante couple having a date. There was a dance floor, more accurately just an empty space in front of the piano, but still. There were already a few couples dancing together around the smooth floor space, and after they finished their dinner, Leonard stood up from his chair and extended a hand out to Sara.

“Would you like to dance?” Leonard drawled, a warm smile on his face.  
Sara pushed her chair back and let her hand land softly on his open one, “I would love to.”

They walked hand in hand to the dance floor, slowly and comfortably, mostly trying to ignore the whispers coming from some of the patrons. Of course people knew who they were, but they weren’t going to let them distract them tonight. 

Dancing together was like them tag-teaming in a fight. Always knowing each other’s moves, always in sync as one person shifted to the left or right. Dancing was just less adrenaline pumping, but that didn’t make this moment for them any less meaningful. 

“Have I mentioned you look wonderful in that dress?” Leonard drawled into her ears as they swayed across the floor.  
“Your eyes make it pretty clear,” she whispered back, her hand snaking across his back, “And you always seem to pull off a suit extremely well.”  
He looked down at her with a smirk, “Must be my hair.”

She let out a laugh before allowing herself to rest her cheek against his shoulder and continue to dance gently with each other. It was relaxing and soothing, until it no longer was. 

Glass smashed at the entrance of the restaurant, followed by heavy crunching and cracking as men carrying weapons stepped through the broken front entrance and rushed into the room. They spread out across the entrance, three of them with guns trained across the room, and three others with blades. 

One man stepped forward and held his gun in one hand up the roof, “Down on your knees! Now!”

Patrons dropped to the ground at various speeds, looking intently at the thug. 

“Wonderful,” the thug smirks, “Stay calm, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

With a flick of his fingers, one of the three blade-men stowed their weapon and pulled out a bag. 

As the thug began walking around the room to collect the jewellery, the other men started fanning out, threatening some of the patrons who tried to sneak around the edges and get to safety. These men were clever, tactical and reminded Leonard of how he used to pull heists. 

“Wow,” Sara says with a hint of awe in her voice, “You went all out on this one.”

He looks at puzzled briefly, then realises what she means, “This wasn’t me. I think we’re actually being robbed.”

Oh.

“Did you bring your weapons?” Leonard whispers.

Sara nodded, but her expression wasn’t the most assuring, “Yeah, but my staff is in my purse,” her eyes looked at their table where her bag sat beside the chair.

He would have slid off one of his bands and given it to her, but it’d be useless as it only works with his biometrics and neural signals. 

Leonard’s gaze turned to some of the other couples sitting on the floor nearby, two males who had definitely recognised them as Captain Cold and White Canary, eyes sending a silent plea for help. He nodded to them and gestured with a small movement of his hand for them to remain calm. 

Their table was a fair distance away, and Snart wouldn’t be able to help unless he created a distraction. 

He gave her a firm nod and gestured for her to give him some distance, “Hey you!” Leonard called out, eyes focused on the guy who was giving out the orders, “Yeah you,” he continued when the leader looked at him.  
“Shut up and you don’t get hurt,” the thug threatened, stepping around some of the tables to approach Snart.  
Leonard smirked, “Surrender now and maybe they’ll go easy on your sentencing.”

The thug looked at him, expression unclear due to the obstruction of the mask, but the tilt of his head meant he was curious. 

“Well I’ll be damned. Captain Cold!” the thug sounds amused, “We got a hero, boys. Keep an eye out for the Canary. They’re never too far from each other,” he mocks suggestively. 

Leonard’s smirk immediately turned to a frown, “Fuck you, I ain’t some hero.”  
A gun was pressed firmly against Leonard’s head, but there was no current fear of it going off, “You’ll pay for that cold. Boys!” he called over his shoulder, “Why don’t you escort this hero out the back?”

The two other gun-wielding men began approaching Snart, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sara stealthily approaching their table and grabbing her weapon. He was hoisted to his feet by one of them, while the other two kept their weapons trained on him. He was pushed towards the back exit of the restaurant when an outcry of pain rang through the restaurant. The thugs turned around to see one of their men flipped over a woman’s shoulder and slammed through a table. 

With that distraction, Snart activated his gloves and his hands reached out for the guns, freezing them with a single touch each. It was too risky to try and hit with them a cold blast, in case one of them fired accidentally and shot someone. Best to remove the weapons from the fight entirely. 

Soon, there were two fights going on within the restaurant, and Leonard and Sara began trying to fight towards each other. 

Sara was handling the three men with energy blades, fending them off with her extendable staff, while Snart was brawling with the three now disarmed men. Sara’s staff continued blocking and absorbing attacks, charging up its own power before she began unleashing it on them.

Snart formed an icy club in one hand that he swung into the side of one of the thugs, the other forming an icy shield to block a punch. But he mistimed it, his senses just too slow to see it coming in time, and Leonard felt the solid hit connect with the side of his head. Still keeping the shield, Leonard used it to push the thug away to allow him to reach Sara. 

“Knew this was too good to be true,” Snart comments when he pushes past an enemy and finds himself with his back pressed against Sara’s.  
“Don’t worry, it’s perfect,” she replies, lunging forward at a hostile. 

Leonard stepped forward, only to once again, feel the sting of a hard punch crack into his jaw and rattle his skull. He staggered for a bit, before grabbing the hand of the next punch and freezing it out of frustration. He then threw the attacker into another before firing two cold blasts that pinned their limbs to the ground with ice. 

He looked up to see Sara dance around the leader’s attack, dodging the dual blades that the leader had hidden in his belt. This guy was good, and rage surged in Leonard’s heart when one of the energy blades sliced through Sara’s hair, and the other sliced across her arm. Blonde locks fell to the ground, and a bright red gash formed on her arm.

Sara growled, planted the staff on the ground and swung around it to kick the leader, planting him in the ground before finishing with a taunting knockout from the staff. 

Sara retracted her staff and began rounding up the weapons, “You’re safe everyone! Police will be here shortly, enjoy your evenings!”

Leonard stood staring, frozen in place as his brain tried to process that Sara had been hurt. His brain was so used to picturing her as invincible and unstoppable, but this was proof that it was just a delusion. The realisation that a few milliseconds too late, and that blade would have carved across her head, sunk in and spurred a great sense of dread inside him.

Sara walks up to him, holding her hair and trying to examine it, “The one night I try to do it fancy.”

Leonard doesn’t react to the light-hearted comment, too distracted in his head to register it.

Gentle arms wrap around his neck, directing his focus to her smile, “That might be the best anniversary we’ve had,” she brings her lips up to his. 

He kisses her back, but the thoughts don’t fade away for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final act begins next chapter. This chapter marks the end of all the content that I had written back in October/November, which means the next chapter doesn't exist yet. I know the plan and the outline, but it's subject to change, so an update may take a while. If I split the final act into two smaller chapters, I might be able to upload them earlier, but it will still take time. 
> 
> I hope you've all enjoyed so far. I have ideas for future works. Playing around with ideas for possible CaptainCanary AU's based on Fairly Legal or The Expanse. And yes, I do acknowledge how absurdly different those two shows are, but I'm willing to give either a shot.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Chief! I found Seal9."  
> "Where you been? Looking for you all morning. Wanted to pay your phone bill. Mad scientist goes berserk and we don't have pictures!"
> 
> Been a week, I know, but here is Chapter 10.
> 
> Thank for sticking with this story so far, and I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> (Song credit: Tristam - Till It's Over)

*present day (one hour before the mission)*

“Now you’re just being mean,” Leonard whines, trying to open his eyes and failing. 

Sara, just a few feet away, is currently getting changed into her White Canary outfit. Seeing her get changed is one of those simple things that he enjoys taking pleasure in watching. 

Sara was taking her sweet time, making sure he could hear every part of her procedure. The soft sound as her former clothes hit the floor, the pattering of feet on the floorboards as she slowly walks over to outfit, the sound of her zipper being undone one link at a time. 

Sara chuckles from her spot by the wardrobe, standing almost completely naked. She smiles over to him, his body supine on the bed. 

On the small bedside table to his left, is a syringe with only remains of a blue liquid in it now. Caitlin had stopped by early this morning to drop it off. It was a project that Caitlin had been working on for months, and had finally finished it in time for Leonard and Sara’s final mission. 

Speedsters are able to repair extensive muscle and bone damage in just a few hours with their fast healing. This serum was designed to replicate that process by overclocking the body’s self-healing properties. It was difficult to create, potentially dangerous if done poorly, which is why she was glad she had years of notes to work on and ensure it was safe for use. There was one side-effect, which Leonard was experiencing right now and had been since he consumed it, but it was expected and non-life-threatening. Without the improved metabolism that meta-humans commonly share, the body was using a lot of energy to divert towards the healing, and therefore, his body felt the same kind of exhaustion that one would feel when trying to do a marathon. 

It won’t fix him completely, his body is too damaged for the serum to cover everything in one dose, but it’s dealing with the broken legs and broken ribs, which were determined to be the more pressing injuries. 

“How are you feeling?” Sara asks, dropping the teasing act and sliding the white outfit over her. 

Leonard brings a tired hand to his head, rubbing his eyes through his eyelids, “Doesn’t hurt to breathe anymore, and my legs are almost done, I think.”

Sara nods, pointless since he can’t look at her, “You sure you’re going to be awake-”  
“Yes.”

She’s almost taken back at the quick response, quite surprising in his exhausted state. She nods, once again pointless, but remains silent. It’s getting close to their mission start time, and she’d be lying if she wasn’t uncertain about his ability to make it. His determination is impressive though, the insistence at which he assures he will be fit enough for this mission is both warming and dangerous. The latter of the two leaves her with unpleasant thoughts.

“Just be careful tonight, okay? Don’t push yourself too hard,” the silent request of a promise is there.  
“Only if you do the same,” he counters.

She can accept that. Neither one of them wants the other to get hurt, which is the case with every mission, but the sentiment means so much more for this mission than it has ever done before. She supposes that it’s the fear of everything being all for nought if something happens, which makes the promise such a necessity. 

“Okay,” Sara promises.

She changes quickly and exits the bedroom, going over to the table where she has a bunch of photos lying around on top of the plans for this mission. She had already done some recon earlier in the afternoon of the warehouse, snooping around from across the street and keeping her distance, all just to ensure that people were in-fact going to turn up tonight. Once the sun set, people did start showing up, and that’s when Sara headed back for the apartment to inform Leonard. 

On the plans that Leonard had developed, there were some predicted locations for guards and security, and Sara was currently in the process of confirming them and filling in the blanks. The recon didn’t provide the complete picture, as more people were likely to show up after Sara left, but it’s good to have some information beforehand. 

About 20 minutes later, when they have just over 40 minutes remaining before they need to get on the move, Leonard stirs in the bed and finally gets up. For a few minutes, he tries to get used to the feel of having functioning legs again, a grin on his face as he walks around the room without needing braces. 

It’s a heart-warming sight, seeing Leonard smile. Of course, she wishes it were under better circumstances, where he hadn’t broken both of his legs and damaged a lung just a week ago, but she’s comforted by the fact that the injuries are mostly healed. 

She lets out a short whistle to catch his attention only moments prior to her tossing over the two metallic bands in his direction. The nano-bots fizzle and buzz as they make way for his wrist to slide through. 

A few more minutes pass and Leonard steps out of the bedroom in his full outfit, Sara’s batons outstretched in his hand. She smiles as she takes them, sliding them into the holster on her belt. 

His face has some unreadable expression, something between deep in thought and something else that she can’t determine. 

“Everything okay?” 

His head turns to her, eyes darting around the room for a bit before settling on her, “I think so. Just still trying to wrap it in my head that this is it.”

“Hey, it’s not over, yet” Sara scoops the keys to their van off the table, “Come on.”

Leonard grins, stuffing his goggles into his pocket and following after Sara. She exits their apartment first, but Leonard stops at the doorway, lingering as he turns his head to look back inside. 

This apartment means a lot to him. Well, at least the idea of the apartment means a lot to him. In all honesty, there is little difference between the styles of apartments, but it’s the fact that there has been a place where he and Sara have been able to call home which means a lot to him. He tries to think of the last time he ever considered something a home, simply because of the location. He cannot. The symbolism has always been on a grander scale to him. To him, Central City is his home, regardless of what apartment, building or prison cell he finds himself in. 

He’s almost startled by the gentle hand that touches his shoulder and the soft voice that accompanies it, “I’m gonna miss it too.”

He shrugs, “This apartment is the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place for,” she understands how often he moved around as a child, given the circumstances of his father’s situations, “Having something,” he glances down at her, “and someone, to return back to has been nice.”

In the end, home was always tied to the people more than any location in Leonard’s heart. When it was just him and Lisa for all those years, floating around and getting by, home was anyplace the two of them were together. The same can be said for him and Sara. Any apartment in Central City could be their home if it was theirs.

She rises up on her toes, snakes one hand behind his head and brings him down for a kiss. They stand in the doorway for a few moments, mouths locked before Sara releases. 

“Let’s make the most of tonight, shall we?”

Leonard smirks, stepping out of the doorway and closing the door behind him, “Absolutely.”

XXX

“Not all that surprising,” Leonard whispers, peering through the magnifying lens in goggles.

Security is tighter than they anticipated, but as Leonard infers, it’s not unexpected. With how the mission went last week, it gave wind to the criminals that Captain Cold and White Canary were doing something, which had obviously made the rest of the gangs a bit more alert. Not enough that they thought it necessary to halt this black-market arms deal, but enough that extra security was warranted.

“The roof still looks like our best point of entry,” Sara suggests.  
Leonard smirks, “And here I was going to suggest we knock on the front door.”  
Sara rolls her eyes, “Because that worked so well last time.”  
“Second times the charm?”

She ignores him with a grin and approaches the edge of their building, looking across the street to the warehouse where this deal is taking place. The sliding shutters open up as two more vehicles approach the building, entering through before being shut behind them. 

At some point in the development of this plan, they had toyed around with the idea of dressing up and pretending to be potential buyers. Whilst it may have been fun, they’re exposed identities make it almost impossible, and they both very clearly remember the shit show that was the nuclear auction when they were trying to take down Savage. 

“Alright,” Sara steps back and turns to him, “Let’s move.”

They scale down their building, head down the street a few buildings before making the dash across the road and getting in behind the row of buildings. Their trek towards the target building is careful and quiet, finding a roof-access ladder by the side wall where they manage to climb it before the patrolling guard’s return. 

They would have taken out that simple guard, but with the level of alertness that is present tonight, regular guard roll-calls make it risky to take out any patrols without voiding the element of surprise. It does come with the unfortunate consequence that there will be more guards for them to deal with when shit eventually goes down. 

The service hatch on the roof of the warehouse is bolted shut, locked to keep the standard intruders out. Sara smirks as Leonard activates one of his gloves, chills the lock with a touch of his finger before she brings down a baton to crack it open with a solid hit. 

Leonard gestures towards the entrance as he pulls open the hatch, “Ladies first.”  
“How chivalrous,” Sara rolls her eyes, emphasising the sarcasm.

They both drop one after the other into the upper floor of the warehouse. As soon as they land and find someplace to hide, their earpieces start buzzing loudly. 

Leonard growls as the buzzing grows louder and has to disconnect the earpiece from his goggles and stuff it in his pocket. Sara is simply able to turn her's off in her ear. 

“Was not expecting jammers tonight.”  
“Might be one of the products,” Sara guesses, “Maybe it’s on display.”  
Leonard shrugs, unconvinced and cautious, “We’ll see. Shouldn’t be a problem but keep an eye out for any other ‘on display’ products they want to test out.”

The top floor is mostly barren of anything. Some old boxes and machinery, from when this warehouse was still in use, are still stored in the roof, but nothing fancy or indicative of black-market trading. Once they descend from the third level to the second level, the building begins to show some signs. It can be argued that there isn’t really a second storey of this building. More like just a series of catwalks connecting the occasional office room above ground level. But for the sake of keeping it simple on their plan, it’s considered the second level. 

Now the ground floor, that is where all the action is. Dozens of men and women wandering around the makeshift showroom floor, moving between aisles of tables, each lined with weapons and gadgets galore. 

Electricity crackles, arcing through a powerful generator before an explosion goes off and the sound of metal being torn apart pierces through everyone’s ears. The place falls silent for a few moments, as everyone’s head turns towards one of the tables lined up in front of a firing range. 

“Yes, ladies and gentlemen,” the seller at the table steps forward, “What you just heard right there was the sound of the new model of handheld, railguns! 32 megajoules of electricity, conducted through 10 kilos of tungsten, firing at more than three kilometres a second. Just the kind of thing you need when you really want to put a hole through something.”

And put a hole through something it can do. Whatever that metal target was before the slug blew it up, will remain a mystery to Leonard and Sara, as the only thing left is the remains of the pole that it was attached too. Leonard looks for the giant hole in the back of the warehouse, where the railgun slug should have continued, but sees one of those force field generators behind the firing range, buzzing with energy. It had been modified to absorb the ionisation and electricity in the tungsten, removing the energy from the projectile while unleashing a pulse of kinetic energy dampening fields to catch the projectile after being fired. 

“That is not something I want to be left on our streets when we leave,” Leonard whispers.  
Sara nods, “I agree. I’m going to reach the power station. I’ll wait for your signal.”

Sara sneaks off, avoiding all the guards along the catwalks before dropping down behind a stack of crates on the ground floor. From there, Leonard watches as she sticks around the walls and makes her way to the generator room around the back before he loses track of her in the darkness.

Leonard remains still for a few moments, observing the patrolling guards before finding one who was off on his own and sneaking up behind him. Placing his hand over the guard’s mouth, Leonard fires a quick burst of cold energy which freezes the guard’s mouth shut with ice, startling him before knocking him against the wall and letting his body crumple to the ground. 

From there, he proceeds to the main office, where the boss of this operation is watching over everything through the security cameras. Leonard has to down two more guards on his way over to the office, flipping one over his shoulder before firing a pinning him to the ground with ice, and forming an ice hammer to shatter the kneecap of the other before silencing him with a piece of ice over his mouth. 

“Hey, you can’t-”

Disguised in the overwhelming sound of an experimental grenade going off for demonstration, Leonard fires two rays of ice at the guards in front of the main office, slamming them both into the wall. 

The noise he makes is safe from being overheard by the people down on the ground, but it was noticed by the others in the office. With a flick of his hand, Leonard creates a sheet of ice that slides under the door, just as he hears someone approach. Their body goes sliding, caught up by the unexpected lack of friction and crashes to the ground. Leonard brings his hands to the lock, freezing it before breaking in. 

Leonard barely manages to dodge the barrel of a gun, bringing up a shield of ice to block the bullet before throwing a disc of ice back at the opponent and slicing the gun down the length of it. A large chunk of hail is thrown across the room, smacking into the legs of the disarmed guard and sweeping him off his feet. 

Another quick strike with a hammer of ice blocks the energy blade coming for his head before he returns with a fist covered in an icy gauntlet. 

Leonard stands up straight, brushes chippings of ice off his parka and walks up to the desk where the boss is sitting. 

“Hey glasses,” Leonard mocks, looking down at the mad scientist who had tortured him days ago. 

A chilling blast freezes the boss’s hand which tried to reach for a hidden weapon, eliciting a cry of pain. He doesn’t care about noise anymore. People have probably heard, and he doesn’t care. 

From his parka, he pulls out a Type-C USB and plugs it into the main computer on the desk.

“Just need to borrow your computer for a bit,” Leonard smirks before punching the guy in the face and pushing the chair away.  
“The fuck, do you think you’re doing?”  
Leonard turns to the guy, clutching his broken nose with his non-frozen hand, “Making the most of it,” he says as if it were completely obvious. 

The program launches and the music starts playing across the speakers. A gentle tune starts playing as Leonard grabs the building microphone off the desk and walks up the window overlooking the floor below. 

He taps it a few times, startling some of the patrons with the noise before he speaks into it, “Hello? Everyone hear me okay?” he doesn’t give them a chance to respond, “I hope you’re all enjoying your evenings at this fine black-market deal. Be sure to remember to apply your 14 percent discount at the checkout with the secret code, ‘perfectly legal,’ terms and conditions apply. Now, I have a special announcement to make-”

A bullet fires past his head and he returns with an icicle that pierces into the guard’s arm.

“As I was saying,” Leonard frowns at the injured guard, “I have an announcement. Tonight, is a special night for me and my wife, and you all have the pleasure of making our last hurrah a memorable one.”

The music in the background starts building up in the background, the electronic beat kicking in. The lights in the building begin growing brighter ever so slightly, which is Sara’s signal that she’s listening and ready for action. 

“So either sit back and enjoy the lightshow, or try to kill us,” Leonard says, “Either way. I want to let you all know it’s been a great pleasure kicking your arses all these years, and that I would never have enjoyed myself without you lot. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

And with that, Leonard drops the mic and steps back from the window as a hail of bullets shatter the glass in front of him. 

_We don’t care what they say_  
_We will be here all day_  
_We’ll stay here till it’s over_

A wall of ice blocks off Leonard from the attacking guards and some of the individuals down on the ground who had picked up weapons and decided to join in. 

_Till the world’s out of sight_  
_We will stand_  
_We will fight_  
_It’s not over till it’s over_

Lightning erupts from the back of the warehouse, an explosion reverberates through the area as a crate of explosives is ignited. 

All the lights in the building sync up to the music, as Sara Lance flies forward through the air with lightning arcing off her batons behind her. With a graceful land on the ground, she swings one baton, directing the lightning towards a table and incinerating it. 

Sara matches each deep kick of the bass in the song with a bolt of lightning, energy chaining from the overclocked generators and being conducted through her batons. Scorch marks burn the ground and walls as lightning is thrown across the room, frying dozens of weapons and gadgets, cooking their electronic internals until there’s nothing left of them.

Two fights rage on in sync with the music, Leonard on the catwalks dealing with the attacking guards, and Sara on the ground dealing with the guests and guards who are trying to fight back. Ice powered punches colliding with sturdy armour, and lightning charged batons blowing up everything in sight. 

Sara dodges a hailstorm of energy bullets from a plasma shotgun, flicking her baton in a quick motion to send a strike of lightning that zaps the weapon and shocks the wielder. The electricity doesn’t kill them, a benefit of having meta-tech weapons that allow you to control lightning, but it leaves them dazed and on the floor. 

A blast of ice crosses the room and slams into someone who had been trying to flank her. She smirks before leaping out from cover and bringing her batons down on the ground, sending a shockwave of energy that knocks people into the air. 

Leonard fires a wave of frost at the catwalk below some of the guards’ feet, freezing it before shattering it. The drop to the ground, landing on each other with a hard thump as they plummet. 

Sara twirls around, drawing in power from the generators to her batons, a circle of blue lightning around her before she casts it at the catwalk, now separated from Leonard. The unfortunate guards who were trapped on the other side find themselves electrocuted as the metal beneath their feat heats up intensely. 

The battle rages on for another minute, as those remaining try to finish the two vigilantes off. Eventually, the last hostile drops to the ground, a band of ice pinning their torso. 

Leonard walks back into the main office, picks up the microphone and brushes the tip before speaking, “Thank you, thank you. Unfortunately, there will not be an encore, but you’ve been a great crowd. Better get used to seeing each other in prison, cause that’s where you’re all headed.”

Leonard slices the cable of the microphone and throws it on the lap of the boss, still gritting his teeth as he tries to manage his frozen arm. He walks over to the computer, cuts the program and slips the USB back in his pocket. 

“Fuck you,” the boss growls, a sinister grin on his face, “I hope you fucking enjoy it while it lasts.”

Leonard sneers, stepping up the guy and punching him in the gut, “Yeah, yeah. Whatever, asshole.”

Using a staircase of ice, Leonard descends down to the ground level and approaches Sara.

“Now that was fun,” Sara grins, twirling her batons in her hands, all the energy discharged.  
Leonard hums, pressing his lips together with an impressed smirk, “I’m definitely turned on after that.”

Sara rolls her eyes and slaps his arm playfully before approaching one of the tables and examining the remainder of some of the weapons. 

“You know your life is crazy when doing something like this is considered a simple plan,” Sara mutters.  
“Simple don’t mean easy,” Leonard calls out from the table he’s investigating, “Nor does it imply we can’t make it fun.”

Leonard asks her to help him round all these weapons up into a pile. It takes a few minutes, and eventually, all but one of the weapons are grouped together in a large pile. 

In his hands, is the handheld railgun.

“That thing will give me nightmares,” Sara comments, looking at the dual rails that form the barrel.  
“I remember when things like this were only ideas in video games,” Leonard adds, flipping it upside down in his hand, “Cool, but fucking deadly.”

Leonard activates his gloves and freezes the weapon in his hand, waiting until the entire device is infused with ice before clenching his hand and shattering it into a million pieces. 

“You wanna call this in?” he asks Sara, turning to the pile of weapons on the ground.  
“Will do,” Sara tries to activate her comms, then remembers the jammer, “Shit. I’ll go and disable it. Be right back.”

Leonard nods, firing out streams of ice at the weapons, turning the entire pile of weapons into one large block of ice. 

Sara searches across some of the other tables, ones that had been caught in the wake of her lightning bolts and looks for anything that looks like a jammer. She tries to use the distortion in her earpiece as a hot or cold sensor, but it’s hardly effective. Eventually, she does find it, on one of the upturned tables. 

Smashing it with her baton, the signal clears in her comms. 

She’s about to radio in the police when her comms are hijacked and Caitlin’s voice comes through. 

“Get out!”  
“Huh?” Sara asks, her brain taking some time to hear the orders.  
“Run!”

Sara turns back to Leonard, eyes wide in panic of the unknown threat. 

Just as Leonard brings down a giant hammer of ice on the block of frozen weapons, shattering them to little pieces, she sees the glint of a scope in the distance. 

“Now, it’s over,” Leonard grins, arms on his hips as he marvels in his work. 

She sees the muzzle flash first. A bullet travels through the air, reaching its target a fraction of a second before the gunshot is heard. 

Sara has never had the opportunity of going into Flashtime before, where everything around her feels like slow motion. But in this instant, her mind boosts her senses, giving the illusion that she is watching everything in slow motion, without the associated speed. Unable to look away, Sara watches as Leonard’s body lurches forward, his expression transitioning from amused, to surprised, to pained by the time he hits the ground. 

Caitlin is screaming out orders for them to get to safety, something about a surprise attack. Sara hears none of it, her body paralysed with fear as she watches Leonard hit the ground with a thud, shards of broken ice and metal making her wince as his face meets the ground.

Survival instincts manage to kick in, and Sara ducks behind a pillar of concrete as another bullet cuts through the air where she was moments ago. 

“There’s more closing in on your position!”

Caitlin’s warning is given moments before an explosion from the entrance occurs and pounding footsteps storm into the building. 

“Are you okay?”  
“Len’s shot,” Sara answers, more to herself than to Caitlin as her brain tries to register the fact. 

“I hope you enjoyed it while you could, Mr Snart!” the mad doctor’s voice calls out across the warehouse floor.

Sara can hear Caitlin trying to reach Wally, but her attention is focused on the situation around her. She curses herself for helping him round up all the weapons, leaving her without anything ranged to take him out. Her batons are useless at striking from afar now that the generators have been drained, and she would surely get shot if she tried to reach Leonard and use his gloves. 

Fighter instincts kick in, blocking out everything to do with Leonard’s body on the ground. Her brain refuses to even think about it, keeping her in a sort of ‘Schrödinger’s cat’ reality, where he is both alive and dead until a clear answer presents itself. 

“This most certainly will be a night to remember,” the doctor calls out, “Find the Canary. Bring her out.”

“Over there!” she hears one of the thugs call out before a bullet cracks the corner of the concrete pillar, marking her location to everyone in the building. 

Footsteps storm towards her, closing in from the other side of the warehouse. She hasn’t got long, and she begins searching through the mess of items on the ground around her, hoping that maybe she missed something. She didn’t. Damn her ability to be thorough!

“You’re surrounded little birdie!” one of the thugs says from the other side of the pillar.  
“Come out slowly and we’ll kill you with your husband,” another adds. 

Sara growls, knuckles going white as she clenches the hilt of her batons in a tight grip. 

“Wally is on his way. Just stall!” Caitlin’s voice pleas over the comms. 

She doesn’t give Sara an estimated time of arrival, probably because she doesn’t want to reveal that it might be too late. Sara heard that Wally was bit elsewhere in the country, dealing with matters involving a teleporting villain who liked to make his opponents chase him. 

Sara raised her hands above her head, slowly stepping out from behind the pillar and into the line of fire of four thugs. Menacing, silver weaponry is pointed at her, and she stares down the barrel of all four of them, watching the hands of their wielders with caution. 

Her steps are slow and dragging, not making any kind of movement that would cause one of them to pull the trigger. 

She’s led to Snart’s body, a feeling of desperation to check on him surges through her, her heart’s curiosity demanding an answer. She’s unable too, resorting to looking for any physical signs, but with his body facing down on the ground, and his head turned away from her, she can’t tell, and that uncertainty terrifies her more than an answer. 

“So this was your, last hurrah, I hear,” the mad doctor calls out, his non-frozen arm holding himself against the remainder of the catwalk, “I take it that meant there were plans of retirement. Hanging up the suit, as they say?”

Sara remains silent, her head looking down at the bullet hole in the back of Leonard’s parka. The nano-bots have already gotten to work on sticking up the fabric, and the parka is to thick for blood to seep through this quickly, so she can’t begin to imagine what the damage is behind it. Someone kicks the back of her knees, causing her to drop to the ground with an awkward fall. 

She’s closer to Leonard physically, but in this situation, unable to reach out to him, she hasn’t felt further away in her entire life. 

“Interesting choice for a final song. Never liked techno garbage,” the doctor continues, “But I must admit it is quite fitting. Unfortunately for you my dear, now, it is over.”

Sara hears one of the thugs shift behind her, the gun preparing to fire into the back of her. She doesn’t know what to think. A tear forms in her eye at the regret of not getting to grow old with Leonard. She forces her eyes shut to stop her any more, and braces herself for the expected flash of pain. 

A second of silence passes, then a gunshot rings out.

Sara flinches, her brain begins registering the pain of a bullet entering her, then it cuts out and stops. It takes a fraction of a second for her to realise that the gunshot didn’t come from behind her, instead, coming from the direction of the mad doctor. 

Sara opens her eyes, sees a pool of blood form on the ground below the catwalk, before the body of the doctor topples over the railing and crashes into the ground with a bone-shattering crack. The suddenness of it causes her to jump in fright. 

Mandarin voices bark out across the warehouse, getting louder as more gunshots start going off. Sara’s brain is confused and lost, trying to make sense of the chaos and the shift in the environment. 

Men in black suits, submachine guns and pistols in hand storm in, getting into gunfights with the thugs belonging to the deceased boss. 

Triads. 

Sara recomposes herself quickly, spinning and rising to her feet quickly, disarming the gun from the thug’s hands and turn to fire bullets into the kneecaps of the three other thugs surround her and Leonard before they get a chance to make sense of the confusion. 

Sara joins in with the Triads, helping them clear out the warehouse of hostiles until the last one drops to the floor dead, with a bullet through his heart. 

A man wearing a mask walks up to her, sliding it off and revealing his face, “Did we make it in time?”

With the threat now eliminated, Sara rushes back over to Leonard. She sticks a hand up the back of his parka, feeling for the bullet wound in his back. For the next 30 seconds, an army of Triads stand and watch over her, protecting, while she tries to tend to Leonard. 

Her brain is too much of a mess, barely able to keep focused on the fact that he is alive and breathing, but she can’t say for how long. She wants to believe that he’ll be okay, that his body can hold on, but she knows the truth. The serum that healed his previous injuries had drained his body, leaving him exhausted before the mission began. He had little energy to begin with when this mission started, let alone by the time he got shot. 

The cruel truth mocks her, keeping her in the dark and not providing answers, teasing her with the low probability of his survival. 

A crack of lightning and Wally appears, momentarily startled by the dozens of weapons aimed at him. 

“Ignore them!” Sara yells to the speedster, and Wally actually looks at her with fear on his face, “Get him to Caitlin!”

In a blink of an eye, Leonard vanishes from Sara’s grip and she finds herself alone, surrounded by the dozen Triads. 

“We’re sorry.”

She doesn’t ask what for. Maybe it’s for being too late. Maybe it’s because Leonard is almost dead. Maybe it’s both or maybe it’s something entirely different. 

“Go,” she says quietly, looking at the small spots of blood on her hand.

Nobody moves. Her voice was too quiet for even the closest of Triads to hear her, but her brain doesn’t even consider that as a possibility. 

“Go away!” she erupts, face contorted with anger as she stares down the group leader. 

He nods, barks out a few orders in Mandarin and everyone stows their weapons and begins filing out of the building. He turns back at her with a sympathetic expression before vanishing out the door. 

Sara let’s out a roar of anger, pulling out her batons and slamming the ground repeatedly. Arcs of lighting begin forming the harder she hits them, and then she starts unleashing on the mess of tables and bodies on the ground. 

She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She feels the need to hit something, someone, but nobody is around to fight her and that only fires her up even more. Primal rage takes control as she lunges over to the doctor’s corpse and begins crushing it under the force of her blows.

Her enraged consciousness is unaware of the returning crack of lightning, simply assuming it is from her batons. She doesn’t hear the calls to her name, nor notice the approaching speedster from behind her. 

She doesn’t even notice the syringe that is plunged into her neck until she feels the sedative course through her body and her muscles grow tired within seconds.

“You, took, everything,” she mutters, eyes lingering on the bloody corpse of the doctor before her consciousness fades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to have a better idea of how to visualise the fight, or at least how I wanted to imagine it, look up, "Just Shapes & Beats | T'ill It's Over + ending". I wanted to imagine that each lightning bolt from Sara's batons was synced to the kick, like the big laser.
> 
> As you all know, and probably should have guessed, I was never going to make this an easy happy ending. I find it far too natural for me to put characters through painful and emotionally tolling situations. 
> 
> There will be a Chapter 11, which I have decided will be the conclusion to the story and the epilogue, combined into one chapter. 
> 
> I'm sorry for being this cruel. Thank you for reading though, and I hope you are looking forward to the conclusion of this story.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another happy landing.
> 
> Welcome, to the final chapter! This has become far more than what I originally intended it to be, at least 20k words more than what it was originally. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read this work. As long as you have enjoyed the story, found it even the tiniest bit interesting with this different kind of relationship, then I am satisfied in my work.

*present day*

For the first night, Sara was sedated, blissfully unaware of the surgical operation going on just a few rooms away. Wally was pacing back and forth in the opposite room, cursing himself for not being fast enough to get across the country in time. He was warned by Caitlin as soon as she found out the ambush had been set, and he’d been running ever since. Then he heard Caitlin warn Sara, but by then, it was too late, and he was still minutes away. 

The following morning, Sara’s brain was a foggy mess, slipping in and out of consciousness while trying to make sense of the events of the night before. At some point, her brain’s trauma handling instincts tried to protect her, and Sara found herself under the delusion that last night was a bad dream. The fragile peace and quiet within S.T.A.R. Labs was shattered when she found out otherwise. Another sedative had to be administered before she destroyed any more equipment. 

For the second night, Sara cried until she passed out from exhaustion. It was a restless sleep, if you could call it that. Dreams and nightmares, right after each other, showing her greatest desires and the moment when the sniper fires and the bullet hits Leonard, over, and over again. 

On the second day, Wally tried to comfort her, but her mind craved someone to hit and fight, and she started lashing out at the unsuspecting speedsters. To be fair, Sara's brain had tricked her into imagining it was the mad doctor. Mick came by, much to Wally’s relief, and demanded to see Leonard. Nobody was allowed into the operation room, it being sealed from the inside as Caitlin worked. The pyro approached his former captain, and Sara broke down in front of him, sobbing as she called out for Leonard. 

The third night wasn’t much better than the previous. Sara woke from a nightmare in a furious state. By the time Mick and Wally got to her to administer the sedative, she had broken her arm and hand, which had also been sliced by shards of glass from a window she punched her fist through. The two men looked to each other as they stood over their now-sedated, former captain.

“I’ve never seen her like this,” Wally whispers.  
“I have,” Mick says.

He’d seen just how bad Sara could be when she was on her revenge quest against Damien Darhk for killing her sister. But this, the destroyed room that makes a rock-star’s attempt look like a mere child throwing a tantrum, was not something he was used to seeing. 

On the third day, more people showed up. Mardon and Joss had arrived during the night. Cisco, Iris and baby Nora had arrived in the morning. Ray and his Nora had gotten to the labs just before lunch. It was around that time when the door to the operation room was unsealed and Caitlin made her first appearance since she first went in. 

The news wasn’t good, but everyone knew that it could have been far worse. Leonard’s body had already suffered strenuous exhaustion in part to the serum that had overclocked his body’s healing capabilities. Combined with the sniper bullet, which had been coated in a paralytic poison, and his body’s natural healing capabilities had been so far gone that his heart had stopped at least once during the procedure. 

Caitlin was required to force him into a medically induced coma to give his body the greatest opportunity at replenishing energy, in addition to the medication that she was injecting into his body. 

Sara could see it on the doctor’s face. There was something else to this matter, and the doctor wasn’t willing to discuss it in front of everyone present. 

Nora, the one with magic, had offered to provide her services, saying she could try and channel some restoration magic. Unfortunately, magical restoration works well against magical damage, not high-tech bullet wounds. The sentiment was much appreciated though. 

Caitlin requested everyone to give her and Sara some privacy, and within a minute, the room was clear. 

“Can I see him?”

God, Sara hated how her voice sounded. It was weak, dry, and she had to cough after she spoke. 

Caitlin nodded and opened the door for her to come inside. 

Leonard was lying stomach down on the operation table, his back mostly covered by a green fabric, except for the gap where Caitlin had been operating. 

Sara was tentative, unwilling to approach. Her feet formed roots in the ground, planting to the spot in the doorway, at least, that’s how her brain imagined it. Caitlin squeezed past and walked up to Leonard, pushing a table of bloody equipment away. 

Sara suddenly took note of all the blood, realising her brain had subconsciously been trying to hide it from her. The green fabric wasn’t very green in reality, instead, covered in thick quantities of blood. Trailing down his sides, were dark red streaks that had stained into the material of the operating table. 

“There’s another problem,” Caitlin’s voice is gentle, her attention completely fixated on the coma induced male on the table.

Something in Sara’s head draws her closer, allowing her to tear her feet from their spot and approach him, try to reach out to him. Her hand extends, hesitating just above his leg for a second before she lowers it and feels him in her touch. 

“The uh, bullet,” Caitlin pauses, a look of anger and frustration on her face, “It went through his spine.”

Sara’s hand recoils from his leg as if she were burned by its touch. Her eyes fixate on the gap in the fabric over his back, and she realises that what she’s looking at is the muscle and bones of his spine. Tearing her eyes away from the sight feels impossible, her gaze inexplicably fixated on the damage. 

“I’ve removed the bullet, but the damage is extensive. The T12 disc has been completely shattered by the bullet, which then broke the L1,” Caitlin reveals, “The nano-bots managed to contain it after that, preventing any further injury, but the poison had kicked in by then.”

“What does that mean?” Sara asks. 

Of course Sara fucking knows what it means! Leonard’s spine has been broken. How much more obvious could the answer be? Yet something in Sara is crying out for something other than the truth, praying that maybe Caitlin will lie to her and spare her the grim reality. 

“I need to make some alterations to that piece of paper I gave you,” Caitlin’s response is solemn, tone full of regret and sympathy. 

Sara’s heart plummets, her breathing tightens in her chest. The list of procedures that she had looked over, the ones designed to help Leonard’s body recover. Sara had thought it would just be that, but this, this wasn’t what she was expecting. 

“It’s not permanent,” Caitlin adds, her tone slightly lighter and more optimistic, “Spinal reconstruction has gotten significantly better over recent years, so while this may have seemed impossible to fix a decade ago, isn’t considered so today.”  
“How long?”  
Caitlin rocks her head as she considers the facts, “Anywhere between a year and a year and a half. It could be faster, but his body has already suffered a lot of damage elsewhere and that will slow the recovery.”

Sara nods silently, looking at his coma-induced form. 

“I’ll need to keep him here for a few weeks. The poison has been purged from his system, and I can begin operating on his spine, but it will take a while,” Caitlin continues.

Sara asks questions, searching for any answers that she can find. She asks if the speedster serum will help. It may, Caitlin answers, but the doctor is concerned about the exhaustion side-effect, especially when the body needs the energy to repair on its own. If anything, the serum might actually do more long-term harm than good in this kind of medical situation. 

She asks why Gideon can’t just fix him up like she did when Sara’s neck was broken. The doctor tries to explain in simple terms the differences between the operations, and the fact that most of Gideon’s tech is what is being used in S.T.A.R. Labs right now. 

“I’m sorry,” Caitlin’s hand intertwines with the blonde’s, her cool grip sending shivers along Sara’s arm, “I know what this means to you.”

Sara tries to keep herself together, manages to do so for a few minutes. Then one by one, tears come on through until the dam breaks and she’s sobbing again. Caitlin holds her the entire time until the blonde passes out in her arms again. 

She hasn’t eaten, hardly drunk anything, and there hasn’t been a proper period of sleep that allows Sara’s body to recover. Caitlin’s started to feel just as worried about the former captain as she is the former crook on the bed. 

Sara doesn’t wake up until the next morning, feeling sick, exhausted, and pained as she realises her arm is covered in bandages and a cast. 

Sara’s anger needs to go somewhere, and she roars at her reflection in the mirror before storming away. She wants to kill, find that doctor, rip and tear him apart until he’s so far gone that it would take months for someone to kind all the pieces of him. But he’s dead, and that only makes Sara even angrier because she wasn’t the one to kill him. Anger boils inside her, Sara pacing around the room only amplifies it as her mind falls into a downward spiral that shuts down any rationality she has until all that’s left is a heartbroken woman with a thirst for blood. 

With a chair, Sara shatters the mirror in the bathroom, gripping a shard of glass tightly in one hand, beyond the point of it cutting into her flesh and breaks out of her room. Her mind registers nothing, simply looking for the nearest living being that this anger in her can take the life of. 

“Boss?”

The pyro had heard an unsettling noise and decided to come check on it, finding the door to Sara’s temporary room kicked open, a trail of blood leading him towards the former occupant. 

Sara kicks into action, turning and lunging at Mick, glass aimed directly for him. She pushes herself hard, not realising that her body is so exhausted and weak from the lack of food and water, that she’s utterly hopeless in a fight. Mick easily knocks the shard of glass from her grip and has her restrained in seconds. 

She struggles in his grip, promises that she’s going to kill him and everyone that she can get her hands on. With a bloody hand, she punches him in the face, briefly stunning him enough to slide out of his grasp. 

Like a lion hunting its prey, she pounces at Mick, aiming directly for his face with clawed fingers. But Mick’s faster, and he bats her away with a meaty arm. From her perspective, and in her current condition, she feels like she’s just been hit by a tree trunk. Her body slams sideways into the wall of the corridor, winding her of oxygen as she falls prone on the ground. 

“Boss?” Mick asks again, stance ready for another attack should it be required. 

Sara tries to push herself to her feet, or at least to her knees, but she passes out before she can do that. 

Hours later, when she wakes up, she finds herself restrained to the bed. Mick is sitting in the corner of the room, watching her with a careful look. Pain surges through her body, muscles aching as her body begins calculating the damage. 

“Boss?”

Sara’s eyes snap to him, the instinctual reaction to reach out and kill, long gone. Instead, all she feels is embarrassment and regret. 

“I’m so sorry Mick,” she manages to get out through choked breaths. 

“T’is fine,” he gestures with a noncommittal shrug, “Just glad it was me who found you first.”

Sara finds her mind racing, fear going through her head as she imagines what might have happened if she found someone else. What if it were Ray, or Nora, or worse, Iris and Baby Nora.

“What do you want?” 

Mick skips the dumb questions like ‘Are you okay?’ or ‘How are you feeling?’ He already knows the answers to those questions. His question targets a different angle, one that she’s grateful he’s the kind of person to know to ask.

“I want it to be over. I don’t want to do this anymore,” her voice is shaky, getting caught up amongst her broken breaths, “I just want Leonard.”

“Doc’s gonna keep him in the coma for a few more days,” Mick informs apologetically, “Anything else?”

Sara wants to hold her head in her hands, but her efforts are futile as she tugs against the restraints and whines when she can’t. 

“I didn’t even know his name,” Sara looks to the roof.  
Mick hums a curious tone.  
“The guy who did this. Leonard just called him ‘glasses’ and I left it at that. But now,” Sara sighs, “God, I want him dead so bad.”

“I thought he was,” Mick says. 

“He is,” Sara huffs, violently tugging at the restraints until her body aches and pleas for her to stop, “and I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Here’s what you can start by doing,” Mick rises from his chair and pushes over a small table with food and a cup of water on it, “Eat.”

XXX

A few days later, Leonard is pulled into consciousness. He freaks out for a bit, almost gives himself a heart attack when he can’t feel his legs. Caitlin manages to calm him down and talk him through it, explaining everything that happened. 

Leonard craves information and answers. They give him control, and he settles down once the explanations start coming through from the doctor. He feels relatively okay after being told the situation, makes a joke about having Gideon replace his entire body after he learns about the new discs in his back. 

“Is Sara okay?” he turns his attention to the doctor’s face. 

The look he gets back is troubling, and his heart starts beating anxiously faster when her response doesn’t come. 

“What happened to her?”

“They didn’t hurt her,” Caitlin assures, “Triads showed up before they could do anything Sara. She’s just… she hasn’t handled the past few days very well. She snapped.”

Leonard frowns at the words, trying to imagine what she’s going through without him. 

“Can I see her?” Leonard asks.

Caitlin presses her lips together and shakes her head, “I don’t think she wants you to.”

XXX

Caitlin isn’t wrong. The first time Leonard asks for Sara, she stops just outside his room, then turns back and runs away, locking herself in her room for hours. One arm and the attached hand are broken, while her other and sliced and cut by glass. And that’s not even the worst of it. 

Sara hasn’t slept since the mission. And unfortunately, being sedated or passing out as she has, isn’t a suitable substitute for sleep. In neither of those circumstances does Sara’s body truly get the chance to recover, at least, not in the same way she would get with proper sleep. 

Ashamed is one of the many feelings going through Sara while she hides from Leonard. 

The second time Leonard asks for Sara, she escapes from S.T.A.R. Labs, getting only a few minutes down the road before Wally and Mick stop and apprehend her. She couldn’t stand to be in the same building, feeling like she didn’t deserve to be around him. They don’t bring her to Leonard, after she begs them not to, so she locks herself in her room again. 

The third time, Sara just stays in her room, eating the food that Mick brings down for her. He doesn’t say anything, just watches and makes sure she eats and drinks before he leaves. He looks like he wants to, probably something about telling her to sort her shit out, but he doesn’t. 

After another few days, the stink coming from Sara eventually becomes too much for own self to handle, and she has her first shower since the mission. She doesn’t know how long she sits curled up in the corner of the tiny shower, blonde hair soaked and covering her face as water blasts down on her, heat burning away at her skin. 

For the first night since the mission, Sara sleeps of her own accord. 

XXX

“You look like crap,” a man laughs from the doorway. 

Snart turns his head to the side, sees two figures standing in the door and smirks, “Thanks. I’ll try to make myself look good the next time I get shot.”

Mardon and Mick walk into the room, pulling up a chair each at the end of Leonard’s bed. 

“How does it feel?” Mick asks.

Leonard tries to hide a wince as he shifts himself in the bed. Neither men make a comment if they saw it, which they probably did. 

“Odd,” Leonard decides, “Gonna be strange for a while, not being able to use my legs. Don’t know how I’m gonna get around really.”

And to think, just a few days ago he took a serum which gave him the ability to walk again. That experience didn’t last long. 

“Oh,” Mardon grins and gives Mick an amused nod, “We’ve got that covered buddy.”

Leonard is scared. 

XXX

It’s been a week since Leonard woke up. He stopped asking for Sara when it was clear she wasn’t going to be making any appearances anytime soon. 

Sara stuck to herself mostly, forcing herself into this kind of isolation. Mick sees it as some self-inflicted form of psychological punishment for losing control and attacking him. Once upon a time, this kind of problem would be solved by having her out in the field, solving an anachronism or kicking ass. But not this time. Sara wouldn’t want to be out on the field anyway, let alone be allowed by Mick or Caitlin in her current condition. 

One morning, Sara spends her time smashing up training dummies in the S.T.A.R. Lab’s training room. Every punch, kick and swing are all with the intent of making herself feel the pain in her muscles and bones. She pushes through it, relishing in the pain it causes her. 

She sits on the floor, surrounded by three broken dummies and hydrates herself with a bottle of water. She’s slowly improving, eating more, drinking more. She’s past the point where she has uncontrollable acts of violence, no longer lashing out at people. She remains pissed that the doctor is dead and she can’t kill him, but she’s getting over it, slowly. 

There’s a sound, coming from the corridor that catches her attention. Rubber squealing on the floor, and what she thinks is an electric motor. A few seconds later, and the most unsuspecting sight greets her. 

Coming around the corner, in a bright red electric wheelchair, is somebody in armour that looks familiar, but appears heavily modified. Most notably, the red and white colouring with the stupidest googly eyes attached to the helmet. As it gets closer, she realises that armour belongs to Chronos, but has been painted to look like a race car driver’s suit. 

Sara rises to feet cautiously, staring with a mixture of awe and shock at the sight in front of her as the wheelchair slides to a stop before her.

“What the fuck?”

She doesn’t know what to look at. Those stupid fucking googly eyes on the helmet, the bright red wheelchair, or the person. She looks down at her bottle of water, wondering if someone had put a hallucinogenic in the liquid and she was tripping out. 

“Cool huh?”

That voice. Sara recoils back, tripping over one of the dummies and planting her butt on the ground as she stares at the wheelchair in shock. 

Two hands raise up to grab the helmet, slide it off the driver’s head and Sara finds herself locking eyes with Leonard Snart. 

Sara bounces to her feet and begins looking for an exit. She goes to move, but Leonard intercepts her and parks his wheelchair in front of the exit before she can get past. 

“Hey,” Leonard looks her squarely in the eyes, “It’s okay. You don’t need to run.”  
“Oh my god,” Sara mutters, still trying to make sense of the sight in front of her, “What the fuck?”

Leonard chuckles and beams her a smile, “A way of staying mobile, thanks to Mardon and Mick. They had a bit too much fun setting this all up. What are those doing on there?”

Leonard frowns at the googly eyes on his helmet and tries to scratch one off with his fingernail, to no avail. 

“I don’t understand,” other than that, Sara is speechless and has no idea what to say.  
Leonard looks up, tucking the helmet underneath his arm, “Well, the new discs are in,” he drawls, “and the doc says I got about a year before I’ll be able to walk around on my own. The nerves are going to take a lot of time to heal. I suppose that’s what I get for doing such a marvellous job of looking after my body for all these years. And even once the nerves heal, it will be months before I’ll be able to walk again.”

From a compartment in the suit, he pulls out a piece of paper. Sara takes it mindlessly, seeing it but not really focusing on it. 

“New list of instructions,” he says, “Doc said I wasn’t allowed to look. Something about a few surprises that were for your eyes only.”

Sara makes a noise somewhere between a laugh and a huff. It sounds so foreign to her ears, especially with it being almost two weeks since she last laughed. 

“Are you okay?” Leonard’s voice distracts her from her thoughts.

She sees him gesture with his head towards her arms, causing her to look down at the cast and bandages wrapped around them. 

“Oh, uh,” Sara stutters, avoiding his gaze as rubs the firm material around her arm, “I wasn’t. But I will be.”

She tries to make it sound like a promise. She wants it to be a promise, but there’s an uncertainty in her voice that betrays her. 

Leonards, then lifts up a finger, “I got something to show you. You can thank Raymond and Cisco for this.”

Leonard slides the helmet back of his head, taps the side just above his ear, and the suit powers up, humming with energy. Then a leg moves, then the other, then Leonard rises out of the chair and stands in front of Sara. 

Coincidentally, Sara loses all feeling in her legs as she drops to her knees in shock, her mind going blank as she processes that Leonard is standing in front of her. 

He crouches down in front of her, “You good?”

His eyes. Those fucking googly eyes! They’re right in front of her face and she can’t look away!

Sara can’t contain herself. For the first time in what feels like weeks, she breaks out into laughter on the floor. Everything in her world shifts, all that anger and hatred towards everybody had vanished, that dreaded feeling that all hope for their future was lost is replaced by the uncontrollable laughter and relief that he’s right here in front of her. 

“I like seeing you laugh,” he says, the modulated voice not quite catching the usual drawl. 

He’s heard about what’s been happening to her, heard the way she’s been isolating herself from everybody and the fights she’s been getting into. She’s grateful they were able to contain her to S.T.A.R. Labs, because the last thing he wants is to wake up and find her out on a rampage in the city, leaving a trail of bodies behind her, or ending up as one herself when there’s no more energy left in her. 

It’s why as soon as he was given clearance to get out of the bed, and the armour was given approval for use, he found her as fast as he could. If she wasn’t going to come to him, then he would have to come to her. And he means that in the least sexual way possible. 

The laughter eventually stops, when Sara’s lungs run out of oxygen and she’s gasping her air and trying to catch her breath. 

“How?” she manages to squeeze out through her deep inhales. 

Leonard moves himself back into the wheelchair, depowers the suit and takes off the helmet, “Cisco said he got the idea from a video game. The helmet reads my neural signals, and the suit moves accordingly. There’s a bit of a delay, but he’s working on trying to make it smaller. Mentioned something about Gideon being added as an inbuilt AI.”

Sara sits herself up on the floor in front of him, staring at his armoured legs and the giant boots. 

Leonard turns the stick on the wheelchair and rotates 90 degrees, “They added some racing stripes too.” 

She smiles at the white band that goes across the side of the wheelchair, looking up at him when he rotates back to face her. 

“Hey,” he looks down at her with a soft smile, “It will be okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Sara whispers, “For not seeing you sooner.”

He shakes his head, “Don’t worry about it. We’re both a little fucked up when it comes to dealing with this kind of situation. I don’t know how I would react if I was in your situation. But we’re past it now. It’s over. We can move on.”

He spins the chair 180 degrees and faces the exit of the training room, “Come on, I want to do a few laps around the Speed Lab. See how fast I can make this thing go.”

Sara smiles, watching as the electric motor whirs with power as he takes off out of the room and turns around the corner. 

To moving on. 

XXX

*Two weeks later*

“Oh, Mr Snart!” Ms Zung cried out when she saw his familiar face roll into her little store, “I’m deeply sorry that this has happened to you.”

Leonard shakes his head and lifts a gentle hand, “Don’t be. None of this was your fault. I came here to thank you actually, for saving not just my own, but my wife’s life. Without your men appearing when they did, things would have been much.”

Ms Zung hobbles over with her cane and places her free hand on his shoulder and smiles, “You’re a wonderful man, Mr Snart.”

He smiles back at her, “I have to ask,” repositioning the wheelchair to look at her more directly, “How did you know we were in trouble?”

She walks back over to her chair and lowers herself into it, “I heard about your prior run-in with that man. So I told my men to keep an ear out for anything regarding yourself or Ms Lance. It wasn’t until an hour before my men intervened, that one of them informed me about overhearing a plan to ambush you at the warehouse. As soon as I heard the message, I rounded my men up and ordered them to kill Mr Dresden and his men, and save you.”

Leonard nods, an impressed smile on his face, “Thank you.”

She returns with a warm smile. The electric motor kicks in as Leonard rotates the chair 180 degrees and begins heading back towards the door, but just as he’s about to reach the exit, he stops and spins back. 

“Why?” he asks, “Why did want to save me?”

“I never got the chance to have a child of my own. My husband died before we could and chose not to remarry,” her head turns to a photo on her desk, depicting two people. 

A little engraving in the frame reads ‘My beloved husband’ in Mandarin. It’s easily over 50 years old.

“Then I met a young boy who tried stealing fruit from my store,” she looks back at him with a grin, “He was troubled. I knew that from the moment I saw him. He had the look of a boy who had far too much responsibility on his shoulders for such a young age. So I let him go, so he could look after his little sister.

“From that day on, I imagined it as if you were my own boy. I knew you weren’t the type to ask for help, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying to provide it when I felt it was right,” she answers. 

“And here I thought it was my wit and charm that got me out of losing a hand,” Leonard smirks.  
Ms Zung laughs, “It most certainly helped your case.”

XXX

*Three months later*

“Are you sure we’re safe?” Sara yells over the loud vibrating chaos going around them.  
Constantine laughs, “Hell no! But that’s what makes this moment that much more thrilling!”

Another wave of dark magic pulsates through the room, the purple stalagmites absorbing the energy before it causes any damage. 

“How are you eating popcorn at a time like this?” Nate turns to Mick with a terrified expression.  
Mick shrugs, stuffing another handful of popcorn in his mouth, “I’m hungry.”

Nora Palmer lets out another roar, followed by an explosive burst of purple magic. Everyone is silently praying for the safety of Nora, Ray and the only brave doctor who agreed to help deliver the baby.

“Didn’t you say they were meant to cut off her connection to magic,” Leonard asks, looking up to the Director beside him.  
“We hoped so, but it appears Mrs Palmer is a bit stronger than we anticipated,” Ava answers, as another shockwave causes them all to shake. 

Leonard is grateful he wore the Chronos armour today, and slides the helmet on, praying that it will protect him if something goes off. Wearing this suit gives just a more comfort and assurance that he should be protected, even if it is magic. 

Everyone makes a wincing noise as they see sparks fly off Raymond’s suit on their viewing screen. 

Then a purple portal starts shimmering by the stalagmite.

“Shit,” Constantine looks up, “I’ll handle it!”

Everyone watches him rush out of the room and barge into the delivery room, where he almost gets knocked off his feet immediately by a shockwave. When he recovers, he begins chanting a spell, just as demonic hands and arms begin protruding from the portal. With a flash of light, the portal collapses, severing the hands and leaving them pooling on the ground in acidic blood. 

“Don’t touch that!” John orders, pointing to the severed limbs. 

Twenty minutes later, and one beautiful little girl named Amy Palmer enters the world, crying in her mother’s arm. Caitlin graciously accepts a towel and begins drying herself of sweat after confirming that Amy Palmer is a healthy baby. 

“Aww,” Sara smiles down at the pretty little face, “She’s even cuter than you,” directing that last part to Snart who rolls his eyes. 

One moment, Ray is bouncing with excitement, accepting hugs and handshakes from everyone, and then he passes out, having to be dragged to a nearby bed by Mick and Nate. 

Leonard rolls up beside Nora and places a hand on the railing beside her, “Just remember, you got all of us who can help.”

Nora turns to look at all the different people in the room, smiling as she focuses back at him, “Thank you, Leonard. We’re lucky to have friends like you.”

XXX

*A few days later*

Leonard laughed when his brain made the connection. 

“What?” Sara peers over the top of her phone to see him rolling in the wheelchair around their apartment floor. 

“We didn’t account for rule number three,” Leonard says, turning the wheelchair to face Sara.  
“And that is?” Sara asks as if she’s meant to know what he’s talking about. 

“Expect the plan to go off the rails.”

Oh.

Sara places her phone on her lap, “Well we’ve definitely thrown away the plan.”

It’s been over four months since the mission and they’re still in Central City, albeit spending 99% of their time in either S.T.A.R. Labs or their apartment. They’re meant to be in Australia by now, but neither of them felt it was a good idea to leave the country until his back has made some progress. They haven’t had many conversations about what they’d like to do after all this, both of them focusing on the present more so than the future at this point. 

Leonard grunts as he gets himself rolling again, “It's not gone for good. There’s still time. Another couple of months and I should be good to start learning how to walk again,” he stops and looks at off in the distance, “Never thought I’d be saying that.”

Sara smirks and returns her attention to the book she’s reading on her phone. She can hear the little motor of Leonard’s red wheelchair fire up as he vanishes off into the other room. 

Then she hears the slow sound of rubber wheels rolling back towards her and sees Leonard’s head poke around the corner of the doorframe.

“You seen the blue paint?”

XXX

*three months later*  
“What the fuck?”

Lisa stares wide-eyed at the couple at her front her door. 

A man in dark blue armour with white trims and stripes, sitting in a light blue electric wheelchair which has white flame decals on the side and painted rims. 

Beside him, is Sara Lance, dressed quite casually. Long blonde hair let down well past her shoulders, a long-sleeved white shirt and light grey jeans. 

Small footsteps can be heard charging towards the door at high speed, “Is that Uncle Leonard!”

The young girl pokes her head under Lisa’s arm for less than a second before screaming and sprinting away. 

Leonard, still wearing the helmet, looks to Sara, “Should I have put the stupid eyes back on?”

“Sammy!” Lisa calls out over her shoulder, “It’s okay. It’s just your stupid uncle playing dress up!” she lets out an exaggerated sigh as she looks at her brother, “Really?”

“You use that kind of language around her often, sis?” Leonard drawls, taking off his helmet to reveal the amused grin on his face, “Thought I raised you better than that.”

Lisa laughs, “Come on in. It’s good to see you, Sara.”

The two women embrace as Leonard rolls himself inside the front door. 

Two sets of feet pound on the ground, charging back towards him. The twins burst around the corner and rush up to him, sliding to a stop just inches before crashing into him. 

“Hi Uncle Leonard,” the 6-year-old twins greet simultaneously.  
“Why are you in a wheelchair?” Sammy adds. 

Leonard clicks his tongue and sighs, “Because sometimes the bad guys get lucky kiddo.”  
“Mummy says you’re not heroes anymore,” Michael, the other twin, says.  
“She’s right,” Leonard nods, “Now I’m just an old man!”

The twins laugh at Leonard’s faux angry face.

Meanwhile, Sara and Lisa are still by the door, silently watching the interaction between Leonard his nephew and niece. 

“He seems different,” Lisa begins, then laughs as she realises what she said, “Wheelchair notwithstanding, but I don’t know. Something about him. He seems more…”  
“Alive,” Sara finishes without any hint of doubt.  
Lisa gives her a brief glance, “Yeah.”

The twins start cheering and bouncing with excitement and anticipation when Leonard makes a comment about telling them a story of the Canary that danced with lightning. The three of them all move off into the lounge room, leaving Sara and Lisa in the hallway alone. 

The two start walking off, passing by the lounge room and moving towards the kitchen where Lisa grabs two glasses and gets them something to drink. 

“You two begun looking for a place to settle down?” Lisa pours a rose-pink liquid into the glasses and passes one to Sara.  
Sara shakes her head, “Not yet,” then downs her drink, “You’re really picking up the accent.”

Lisa lets out an embarrassed laugh and holds her head in shame, “Oh God, so I’ve heard.”

They hear a scream come from the lounge room, followed the sound of something being knocked over and hitting the floor.

“You better be behaving in there!” Lisa calls out. 

“Yes mum,” three voices reply, one of them sounding very different and sarcastic to the others. 

Lisa rolls her eyes and downs her drink, pouring the two of them a new glass, “He really has changed, hasn’t he?”  
Sara nods, “Our lives have changed. We’re not heroes anymore, and I think Len saw that as an opportunity to redefine himself. He wants to enjoy this new life.”

XXX

*One year later*

Sara hangs up the phone and lets out a heavy breath. 

She knew it was coming, always in the back of her mind, just lingering as her brain counted down to when the time would come. 

“You have to go?” Leonard slowly hobbles over to her, wearing nothing but a pair of long pants. 

His spine has mostly healed, and he’s in his fourth month of training his muscles to learn how to walk again with the new nerves. It’s been rough, his old body often unforgiving at times, but they’ve been getting through it together. 

Sara nods, “Yeah, she’ll be here in a few minutes.”

Sara looks out the window to the other campervans lined in rows outside. They still haven’t decided on where they want to settle down, so for now, they’re spending their days travelling and enjoying life. 

Leonard nods, gives her a quick kiss before retreating to his seat as his legs start aching. 

A few minutes later, and a shimmering white portal opens up and Ava Sharpe steps through. 

“Welcome to our humble abode,” Leonard drawls.  
Ava smiles and takes a quick glance around the interior, “Cosy,” her attention turns to Sara, “You ready?”

Sara nods, and Ava taps a few buttons on her time courier and a new portal opens. The two women step through and are met with the bustling noise of 2213. They cross the bridge over the river to the AVA clone building and enter through the front lobby. 

“Have you made a decision?” Sara asks, holding Ava’s hand as they approach the front desk.  
Ava smiles and turns her attention to the staff at the desk, “Hello, I’m here for my mind transfer.”

Sara’s heart is relieved to hear those words and she hugs Ava tightly before they follow the directions to the operation room. 

Six hours later, the process is complete and Ava Sharpe walks back out into the lobby.

“New body, old mind,” Ava spreads her arms and looks to the roof as Sara rises out of her chair. 

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Sara hugs her tightly. 

XXX

*Seven months later*

“Cheers!” 

The sound of glass clinking together echoes in the newly furbished dining room of Leonard and Sara’s new home. 

Located in the German countryside, just a few minutes from the nearest town, sits a comfortable two-storey house with a view that spans for miles. 

Everyone has come around for the party, and yes, that includes Gary. 

Ray and Nora, bringing along their beautiful little Amy, who everyone found out is quite capable of accidentally casting magic when she tries to speak. Constantine showed up, only because he was promised that there were food and drinks to be had, but Sara knew he was truly softer than he pretends to be. 

Lisa and her family showed up, the twins currently chasing each other on the grass. Cisco breached over from whatever dimension he was from, and there was a bit of an awkward moment between himself and Lisa as introductions were made. But after that, everything was fine. 

Mardon and Joss were out in the grass, messing around with the weather and arguing about what’s considered the perfect temperature. Iris and her Nora were sitting together, the little speedster forced to sit out for cheating in a game of tag by using her powers. 

Wally, Nate, Ava and Gary were sitting around a table set up outside, having a drinking competition, which Gary was losing at severely. 

That left Caitlin, Sara and Leonard. Three individuals who were having a four-way conversation. 

“She says there’s not enough blue,” Caitlin informs on the behalf of Frost. 

Leonard chokes on his drink and sputters as he looks around him. One blue wall. Two blue walls. Three, four. He checks hallway, yep, that’s blue too. 

“What does she want? For us to paint the floor too?” Leonard drawls.

Caitlin shrugs and continues to sip on her drink. 

“Did Len tell you about his idea of doing ice sculpting,” Sara says with amusement, biting the bottom of her lip.  
“Now that sounds fancy,” Caitlin swivels on her chair, plants an elbow on the counter and faces Leonard, “Didn’t realise we had an artist in our midst.”

Leonard rolls his eyes and huffs, “I just thought it’d be a nice idea for the winter. Haven’t had much use for my gloves these days, figured I should do something about that.”

Caitlin is impressed by the idea, “Frost likes the sound of it too. You still thinking of doing your martial arts studio?” she turns to Sara. 

Sara shrugs, “I’m still undecided. Have to find a location where I know people are interested.”

Caitlin nods, then excuses herself as she walks over to Cisco and catches up with him. 

Sara and Leonard sit opposite each other, sipping on drinks as they listen to the noise of the party around them. 

“Things turned out well,” he says simply.  
“They did,” Sara concurs. 

“We’ve come a long way, you and me,” he grins.

‘Me and you’ is so pre-Oculus. Since that New Year’s Eve, it’s always been ‘You and me’. He’s a simple man, who likes keeping things simple. 

“Been a rough road, but we made it,” Sara adds. 

They sit in silence for a few minutes, watching the rest of the crowd of their party from a distance. Young Nora has been allowed back into the game, having promised she wouldn’t use her speed anymore to cheat against the twins. 

The Mardon family settled on a pleasantly warm sun with a cool windy breeze. 

Constantine is talking to the Palmer family, probably offering some advice about what to do when the baby starts channelling demonic powers or something crazy like that. 

Gary is passed out, leaving Nate, Wally and Ava to themselves in conversation. 

Iris, Cisco and Caitlin were sitting together, reminiscing over the old Team Flash days. 

Seeing all these families together, it brings something back to the front of Leonard’s mind that he’s been meaning to bring up. 

Leonard turns to Sara and places his drink down between them, “Did you ever want to be a mother?”

Sara raises an eyebrow, looking at him with confusion while her brain takes a moment to register what was said, “I haven’t considered it in a while. Did you ever want to be a dad?”

Leonard shakes his head, “I never thought I was going to be good enough. But then someone told me to have a little faith, and that I just need to do the best I can.”

“Alright,” Sara nods, a calm and dignified expression on her face. 

It takes Leonard a few seconds to realise she’s doing more than just acknowledging his explanation, “Really? You know I’m talking about adoption, right?”

“Yep, and, yep.”

Leonard sits up straight and takes a deep breath, “Okay.”  
Sara smirks, “What? Did you think you were gonna have to convince me?”

Leonard shrugs, “Not really, but, I thought you’d need some time to consider it.”  
“I just did,” Sara confirms. 

“Well then,” Leonard lets out a sigh of relief, “I guess we start planning.”

“After,” Sara emphasises, sliding out of her chair and walking around to grab Leonard’s hand, “After, we enjoy tonight with everyone else.”

Leonard smiles, allowing himself to be led out by Sara towards the rest of the party. 

The stand at the edge of the patio, looking out to the yard where the kids are running around, where the weather is nice, and to where their future lays. 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't give out happy endings easily, but this story desperately needed one after all the chaos and pain that I've put all the character's through. 
> 
> Once again, thank you to everyone who has read this work and enjoyed it. It has been a pleasure. 
> 
> Like I mentioned a few chapters ago, I do have ideas for future stories. Still toying around with the idea of a Fairly Legal AU, but I've already begun writing down ideas and the first chapter for a The Expanse/Leviathan Wakes AU. No space universe in that one, just a 'Joe Miller/Julie Mao' inspired romance full of angst.


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